Largest recorded hailstorm in two decades in Catalonia
MADRID:
A 20-month-old girl has died after being hit in the head during violent hailstorms that caused devastation in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, authorities said on Wednesday.
Fist-sized hailstones up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter fell in the area around the village of La Bisbal d’Emporda on Tuesday. The broadcaster TV3 said it had caused injuries – mainly broken bones and bruises – to about 50 other people.
“People started screaming and hiding,” said musician Sicus Carbonell, who filmed the devastating aftermath of the storm at the Castell d’Emporda, a nearby hotel where his band was playing on the terrace. covered with tarpaulins when people were forced to run for cover.
“There was a commotion, with boys and girls running around alone, some parents could grab their kids,” he told Reuters.
“There was a little girl about three or four years old who wasn’t hiding under an umbrella. I ran out and grabbed her…
“Then a hailstorm broke the fabric… and I told my team that either we got into the restaurant or one of those tennis balls would fall on us and we wouldn’t make it. .”
Authorities there said a child was hit on the head in La Bisbal d’Emporda, the girl died at Trueta hospital in Girona.
According to the Meteocat meteorological agency, the largest hailstorm recorded in the past two decades in Catalonia. Areas in the region remained on storm alert on Wednesday.
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