Hailstorms and strong winds hit Vietnam’s northern mountainous region on the evening of April 14, 2018, damaging houses and destroying crops. The storms have left many without a roof over their heads and destroyed crops that were ready for harvest. In the northeastern province of Bac Kan, authorities said that over 1 000 houses had been damaged in an hour-long hailstorm. It bombarded three districts with hailstones of up to 3 cm (1.2 inches) in diameter, the size of a grape, according to local media. Some
residents were forced to spend the night out in the open, the province’s disaster control unit said. A large area of cornfields and orchards in the province was also damaged. “The hailstorm crushed most of the corn, and about 70 hectares (173 acres) of plum trees that were near harvest time dropped their fruit prematurely. Seedlings at tree nurseries were also severely damaged,” said Nguyen Dinh Diep, vice chairman of Pac Nam District, according to VNExpress. READ MORE
