PHOTO: Almaty is battling consequences of the night storm

Trees, cars and buildings were damaged in Almaty after the night's heavy rain and wind storm, Tengrinews.kz reports. Three cars were crushed by fallen trees in one of the yards at the crossing of Manas and Bukhar-Jyrau streets. One of the trees, which is said to be 40 years old, fell down on a transformer vault causing blackouts. The locals are cleaning up fallen trees and working to release their vehicles from under the trunks on their own. One of the fallen trees damaged a balcony and blocked the apartment building's entrance. In another location, between Dzhandossov and Ozturk streets, two cars were smashed by a fallen tree. One of the cars had a driver inside. He stopped to wait for the hailstorm to end and was sitting inside the car when the tree fell. His car's wind screen and the roof were badly damaged. The driver was not injured. Similar incidents happened on Al-Farabi street, where several trees fell down close to Nur-Mubarak university and Kazakhfilm area. Strong wind accompanied by rain and hail fell down dozens of trees damaging several cars, KazTAG reports citing Almaty rescue service. “The emergency service recieved several phone calls related to the fallen trees during the storm. Citizens reported that fallen branches damaged several cars,” the city rescue service said. Trees fell all through Almaty city. In Shymbulak area near the mountains a fallen tree smashed a car with people inside. The rescue team took their measures and rescued them. There is no information on casualties or floods. Hailstorm started in the afternoon of May 17 in Almaty. As per KazHydroMet city weather service, the diameter of hail was around 2 cm.