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Baby dead, around 30 injured after violent hailstorm in Spain
A 20-month old baby girl died after being hit by a massive hailstone during a fierce storm in the northeastern Spanish town of La Bisbal d’Empordà, officials said Wednesday (August 31).
Town mayor Carme Vall told Spanish National Television the baby was with her parents when she was hit by the ball of ice Tuesday. She died early Wednesday in hospital.
According to officials who spoke to Catalan broadcaster TV3, the little girl was struck in the head by large hailstones and died overnight.
Around 30 people were treated for injuries after the storm, and one woman remains in hospital after the violent storm Tuesday night.
The mayor said many cars and buildings were damaged by the hail. She said that the some of the hailstones measured up to 11 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter.
"It just rained hail bombs in La Bisbal d'Emporda," wrote local resident and author Irene Mellado on Twitter." It has broken almost every car or motorcycle window; pierced through roofs, tables, chairs, broken lamposts and injured people... The sirens of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks are constant. Terrifying."
During the storm, hailstones larger than 10 centimeters (4 inches) poured from the sky. According to Catalonia's meteorological agency SMC, Catalonia has not seen hail that size since 2002.
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Video footage on Spanish media showed the hailstones bouncing like golf balls on cars in the street.
More storms were expected in the region Wednesday. Heavy storms have been predicted for eastern Spain following severe heatwaves during the summer both on land and in the Mediterranean Sea.
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