streams of great black clouds rushed from every corner of the heavens , making the darkness so thick as to feel tangible ; then , heralded by bolts of lightning that flashed their fleeting , blinding light upon a scene of utter chaos , and by a chorus of thunders that made every single particle of reality reverberate with their bellowing , the blackness above began to vomit sheet after sheet of rain as cold and hard as ice , that lashed at the wave-tossed raft and its panicked passengers .