Hail covered the ground, white “as ice and snow” in Son La

In Long Luong commune, Van Ho district, Son La province, a large hailstorm recently occurred, rocks covering the ground as white as ice and snow.

On the afternoon of April 24, the leader of the People’s Committee of Van Ho district (Son La) said that around 4:45 p.m. on the same day, hail occurred in Long Luong and Xuan Nha communes of the district.

Hail looked white over an entire area in Long Luong commune (Photo: Hoang Tuan).

According to the leader, the hail lasted for about a few dozen minutes then stopped. However, hail destroyed many crops and people’s property such as plums, oranges, pears, strawberries…

Highway 6 is covered with rocks (Photo: Hoang Tuan).

“Since the beginning of the year, this is the second hail storm to occur in the area and has destroyed many areas of people’s crops. Many areas of plums being prepared for the season were also destroyed by hail. We are giving statistics on property damage,” said the leader of Van Ho District People’s Committee.

Hail destroyed many people’s crop areas (Photo: Hoang Tuan).

According to some people in Long Luong commune, the hailstorm in the afternoon of the same day was thick enough to whiten the road surface, hillsides and fell on the roofs of houses.

Hail covered people’s strawberry growing area (Photo: Hoang Tuan).

People said they had never witnessed such a large hailstorm.

Also this afternoon, at about 4:30 p.m., hail also occurred in Mu Cang Chai district (Yen Bai). The stones are about 1-1.5cm in size.