Three people have died and millions of yuan worth of crops have been killed after a surprise hailstorm hit northern and central China this week.
Two died from hail-related injuries in Hebei Province, and another was killed in Henan, according to China Daily. The Daily doesn't specify how, exactly, the hail was able to kill people.
Small (golf ball-sized or smaller) hailstorms don't typically result in fatalities, aside from an increased likelihood of traffic accidents. Within the past decade, though, there have been multiple reports of "giant" hail, which has resulted in deaths simply due to the size and weight of the ice chunks.
In America, for example, a 2010 hailstorm in South Dakota saw hailstones "larger than a bowling ball" and weighing in at nearly 2 pounds, or about 900 grams. In 2002, China saw one of its deadliest hailstorms ever; 25 were killed and hundreds injured in Henan after a freak storm in July.
This week's storm is said to have affected more than 150,000 people, and is still ongoing. Some RMB19 million worth of crops have been lost to the storm, and residents are being advised to stay indoors until, you know, huge hard chunks of ice stop falling from the sky.
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