At about 1:30 am, thunderstorms accompanied by hail suddenly poured down on the highland commune of Bac Ha, where the altitude is nearly 1,000m. Rocks fell thickly, hitting the roofs and roadbeds, creating loud noises that lasted for a long time at night.
According to people's records, many large stones, equivalent to a cup, caused car windows, glass doors, fibro cement roofs and plastic roofs to be punctured in many places. Areas of vegetables and fruit trees were crushed, causing significant damage.
Some local people believe that this hailstorm is strong and lasts longer than the large hailstorm that occurred in 2013.
Previously, at the end of March 2013, Lao Cai recorded the hailstorm considered the largest in decades, with a common diameter of 4-6cm, some over 10cm, causing heavy damage to housing and production.
Currently, there are no complete statistics on the extent of damage after the hailstorm in the early morning of April 16.
However, initial identification shows that many houses have had their roofs blown off and crops damaged. Local authorities are urgently reviewing and supporting people to overcome the consequences.
According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, from the night of April 16 to April 17, due to the influence of cold air compressing a low pressure trough combined with wind convergence at an altitude of about 1,500m, the Northern region (except Lai Chau, Dien Bien) and Thanh Hoa will have moderate rain, with heavy rain in some places with common rainfall of 20-40mm, locally over 100mm.
The meteorological agency warns that in thunderstorms, tornadoes, lightning, hail and strong gusts of wind may appear, posing a risk of causing damage to agricultural production, causing trees to fall, damage to houses and infrastructure works, and at the same time, flash floods on small rivers and streams, landslides in hilly areas and flooding in low-lying areas may occur.
