Velocity of rain and throwing things from the Eiffel tower...

There are many, probably apochryphal, stories about the danger o f throwing things from high buildings - I’ve heard stories of both bits of cheese, and a poodle, killing people by falling/being dropped from the Eiffel tower, and I’ve been told that a pea dropped from the very top of the Empire State Building would create a six foot dent in concrete.

Whilst I’m sure a lot of this is utter bunk, I do know that attempting to drop innocuous things like cigarette butts and pocket fluff from the Eiffel tower can enrage the tour guides…

Hence the question: why does water, falling from a much greater height, not cause more damage to our skin? Clearly water at a high velocity can cause damage - hence water canons and so forth.

is it a matter of terminal velocity? Or are the stories about solid things dropped from on high so exaggerated that this is a non-question? Or is it to do with the size of the water droplets.

FWIW, I have been caught in a rain and sleet storm, where the drops fell so hard they were actually painful, and brought some pople out in bruises.

Cecil himself has addressed the issue of Would a penny dropped from the Empire State Building kill someone on the ground?
His conclusion was:

Regarding the water drop velocity, that would depend strongly on drop radius.
According to this site a 2mm-radius waterdrop would reach a terminal velocity of about 10m/s, with a sqrt dependancy on radius.
This site, however claim that waterdrops can achieve diameters up to 9mm, while they also claim that maximum observed drop velocity is 35f/s. Clearly we have a discrepancy, but both figures are within the same ballpark.
My guess is that the formula given in the first link breaks down as the drop changes shape, something that is bound to happen as the volume increases.

At any rate, it’s not going to kill you.

Hmm, I have personally released a paper aeroplane from the top of Empire State Building.