فَلَمَّا جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا جَعَلْنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهَا حِجَارَةً مِّن سِجِّيلٍ مَّنضُودٍ (82)
(11:82) And when Our command came to pass, We turned the town upside down, and rained on it stones of baked clay, one on another, *91
*91). This scourge probably took the form of a severe earthquake combined with volcanic eruptions. The earthquake turned their dwellings upside down and by means of a volcanic eruption they were subjected to a severe rain of stones. The expression 'stones of baked clay' perhaps refers to the stones formed by the underground heat and lava in volcanic regions. The signs of this volcanic eruption can be noticed almost everywhere in the region south and east of the Dead Sea even today.