Hail injures Horses, South Africa.

A mounted column of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles was operating in the area of Edenberg, South Africa when, suddenly, on 12 February 1902, as the column was preparing for a raid, it was pounded by hail.

For 20 minutes hailstones over one inch in diameter fell among the troops until the encampment was four inches deep in hail. Every horse stampeded except for three which were killed either by the hailstones or by the lightning. The stream beside the camp soon rose from a trickle inches deep to a raging torrent five feet deep. Eventually a party was able to cross the water to rescue horses. Although four horses were lost, and two had to destroyed, twenty were removed to the rear for veterinary treatment as they had been badly injured after stampeding through barbed wire.