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A villager shows hail stones in Wanyuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province, April 21, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]
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BEIJING - Hailstorms had killed 29 people across China from March to April 20, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs late Friday.
Hailstorms had stricken 270 county-level areas across 24 provincial regions since March this year, the ministry said.
As of 2:00 pm Friday, hailstorms had affected 3.072 million people, and resulted in direct economic losses of 3.38 billion yuan ($536.7 million).
Of the 29 deaths, ten were reported by Jiangxi, seven by Zhejiang, three by Xinjiang, two by Hunan, two by Guizhou, and one respectively by Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Guangdong and Yunnan.
In the latest havoc, gales and hailstorms damaged 11,864 houses, affecting more than 230,000 people in Wanyuan city, southwestern province of Sichuan, since Friday night. Large amount of farmland was also destroyed by hailstones as big as eggs.
Authorities are still checking if there is report of casualties.
