Massive Hailstorm Affects daily life in Pokhara, Crops Damaged   

This photo taken from social media shows Pokhara city covered in a blanket of hailstones resembling snowfall on Sunday.

February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. Most of the roads in Pokhara were covered with hailstones that occurred from 1 pm and continued till 4:30 pm.    
As a result, vehicles and pedestrians were left struggling on the roads of Pokhara, the state-owned RSS reported.

The locals of Pokhara said that they had never witnessed such a massive scale of hailstorm before. Social media were abuzz with videos of hailstorm throughout the day.

According to the District Traffic Police Office, the hailstones have been removed with the help of excavators in the main market areas of Pokhara including Mahendrapul, Chipledhunga, New Road, Nayabazar, Sirjanachowk and Ranipauwa.    
The Metropolitan Agriculture Development Division informed that the hailstorm damaged winter crops and vegetables in the city a nd nearby areas. Farmers of ward number 18, 20, 16, 25, 22 and 14 of the metropolis have been affected by the hail. However, the exact data on the extent of damage was not available immediately.