Hail as big as eggs fell on Nghe An

Many communes in Tuong Duong district experienced hail lasting 10-30 minutes, many hailstones as big as chicken eggs, causing more than 200 houses to have their roofs punctured and damaged.

At around 4:15 p.m. on May 1, Yen Thang Commune, Yen Hoa, experienced a thunderstorm with rain for dozens of minutes. Stones measuring 3-4 cm in diameter fell on the roofs of houses, creating a loud noise. In some places, the stones covered the ground 2-3 cm thick.

In Yen Thang commune, hail lasted for more than 10 minutes and a two-hour storm swept through 7 villages, causing damage to tiles and holes in corrugated iron roofs of more than 200 houses. Ms. Lo Thi Cuc Phuong, a resident of Pung village, said many of the hailstones were as big as chicken eggs. "I caught a whole pot and put it in the refrigerator to replace ice," she said.

People collect ice from the rain and put it in the refrigerator. Photo: Hung Le

In Ky Son, Anh Son, Do Luong, Thanh Chuong districts, this afternoon there were also thunderstorms after many days of prolonged heat, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius. Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, 42 years old, residing in Do Luong district, likened this to a "golden rain to cool off" after a series of hot days.

Nguyen Truong Thanh, Chief of Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue of Nghe An Province, explained that this is the time of changing seasons, so mountainous districts often experience hail and thunderstorms. The unit is asking affected districts to count the damage to come up with support plans.

A house in Tuong Duong district had its tiled roof broken after a hailstorm on the afternoon of May 1. Photo: Hung Le

Over the past month, hail and tornadoes have frequently occurred in the western border districts of Nghe An. On April 13-15, tornadoes and hail lasted for 15-20 minutes in the communes of Bao Thang, Bao Nam, Huoi Tu, Bac Ly... causing damage to more than 440 houses, with roofs blown off; 115 hectares of rice, more than 940 hectares of corn, crops and 880 hectares of forest.

Hail often occurs in the North and Central regions during the transition from hot to cold (September-November) and from cold to hot (March-May). Ky Son district has high mountainous terrain and interwoven forests, which are ideal conditions for convection to develop strongly, forming cumulonimbus clouds, causing hail.

Nghe An has been experiencing hot weather for the past 5 days, with temperatures generally 35-38 degrees Celsius, many places over 40 degrees Celsius, strong southwest winds, and low humidity. According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, due to the influence of weak cold air combined with wind convergence, on the day and night of May 1, the North and the Thanh Hoa - Nghe An region will have showers and thunderstorms, with localized rain of 15-30 mm, and some places over 50 mm.

Duc Hung

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