Hail in Ekibastuz in late July

Hail with heavy rains have hit Ekibastuz city in northeastern Kazakhstan on July 28, Tengrinews reports citing the regional Emergency Situations Department.

On July 28 at 13.30 p.m. torrential rain and hail hit Ekibastuz city and surrounding areas. No casualties were reported.

Five houses in Atygai village of Bayetskiy rural district and five houses in Ekibastuz city were flooded. The size of hail, according to witnesses, was around 1 cm.

A falling tree damaged a power line and causing a utility pole to fall landing on a car parked near a house. 

The weather cause massive traffic jams in the city. 

"First, there were dark clouds in the sky, very scary looking ones. People felt something was coming, some even started praying. Then the hail broke out. Standing by the window, we witnessed the roof of the neighboring house fall off. The visibility was so poor that it was impossible to see anything when driving a car," eyewitness are quoted by Kazpravda as saying.

Two pieces of utility service's equipment and one fire truck were employed to pump out the water from the flooded houses and eliminate the aftermath of heavy rains and hail.

Reporting by Assemgul Kassenova, writing by Assel Satubaldina, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina