The burial of Tipu Sultan is described by many British Officers such as Lieutenant Richard Bayly of the 12th Regiment. According to Lieut. Bayly “I must relate the effects and appearance of a tremendous storm of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning that ensued on the afternoon of the burial of Tippoo Saib. I had returned to camp excessively indisposed. About five o’clock a darkness of unusual obscurity came on, and volumes of huge clouds were hanging within a few yards of the earth, in a motionless state.
Suddenly, a rushing wind, with irresistible force, raised pyramids of sand to an amazing height, and swept most of the tents and marquees in frightful eddies far from their site. Ten Lascars, with my own exertions, clinging to the bamboos of the marquee scarcely preserved its fall. The thunder cracked in appalling peals close to our ears, and the vivid lightning tore up the ground in long ridges all around. Such a scene of desolation can hardly be imagined; Lascars struck dead, as also an officer and his wife in a marquee a few yards from mine.
Bullocks, elephants, and camels broke loose, and scampering in every direction over the plain; every hospital tent blown away, leaving the wounded exposed, unsheltered to the elemental strife. In one of these alone eighteen men who had suffered amputation had all the bandages saturated, and were found dead on the spot the ensuing morning. The funeral party escorting Tippoo’s body to the mausoleum of his ancestors situated in the Lal Bagh Garden, where the remains of his warlike father, Hyder Ali, had been deposited, were overtaken at the commencement of this furious whirlwind, and the soldiers ever after were impressed with a firm persuasion that his Satanic majesty attended in person at the funeral procession.
The flashes of lightning were not as usual from far distant clouds, but proceeded from heavy vapours within a very few yards of the earth. No park of artillery could have vomited forth such incessant peals as the loud thunder that exploded close to our ears. Astonishment, dismay, and prayers for its cessation was our solitary alternative. A fearful description of the Day of Judgement might have been depicted from the appalling storm of this awful night.
I have experienced hurricanes, typhoons, and gales of wind at sea, but never in the whole course of my existence had I seen anything comparable to this desolating visitation. Heaven and earth appeared absolutely to have come in collision, and no bounds set to the destruction. The roaring of the winds strove in competition with the stunning explosions of the thunder, as if the universe was once more returning to chaos. In one of these wild sweeps of the hurricane, the poles of my tent were riven to atoms, and the canvas wafted forever from my sight.
I escaped without injury, as also my exhausted Lascars, and casting myself in an agony of despair on the sands, I fully expected instant annihilation. My hour was not, however, come. Towards morning the storm subsided; the clouds became more elevated, the thunder and lightning ceased, and nature once more resumed a serene aspect. But never shall I forget that dreadful night to the latest day of my existence. All language is inadequate to describe its horrors. Rather than be exposed to such another scene, I would prefer many battles.”
Mulla Omer
Mullah Omar was buried on 23rd April 2013. A freak hailstorm in Afghanistan damaged even more NATO helicopters than originally reported when the storm hit on April 23rd, military officials say. After the April 23 storm struck the air base at Kandahar, officials had said about 50 helicopters had been damaged by golf ball-size hailstones. But a British newspaper, The Guardian, reported Thursday it now turns out more than 80 aircraft were affected, with some kept out of action for more than three weeks.
The half-hour storm was so violent, the hail broke rotor blades, cracked windows and ripped the helicopters’ metal skin, the newspaper said, adding a local military blogger reported three Afghans die. “The sheer number of airframe repairs required after the hailstorm provided five years’ worth of experience for the airframe mechanics,” Regional Command South, the coalition headquarters based in Kandahar, said in a release.
Dr. A Q Khan
An unexpected and unprecedented rain and thunder storm hit Islamabad precisely at 3 pm on 10 Oct 2021, the time set for burial of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. Cloud cover was so complete that it became totally dark and lights had to be switched on even outdoors. And such intense thunder and lightning has been seldom seen.