A house in Chien Pho Commune, Hoang Su Phi District, Ha Giang Province was damaged in a hailstorm on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

In Ha Giang Province, about 810 houses were damaged in districts of Hoang Su Phi, Xin Man, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac. The winds completely blew off the roofs of 229 houses in Xin Man District, while in other districts, 139 houses had their roofs damaged. The damage is estimated to total about VND2.2 billion.

Then Van Tien, an official of Xin Man Commune, Xin Man District in Ha Giang Province, said that besides damage to houses, the hail and winds also destroyed crops and damaged roads.

Lu Van Sanh, residing in Chien Pho Commune, Hoang Su Phi District, said his roof was ripped off and two buffaloes were killed by lightning.

In Lai Chau Province, strong gusts and hail lasted for half an hour on Wednesday afternoon, damaging houses and crops in districts of Tan Uyen, Tam Duong, Nam Nhun, Muong Te, Phong Tho and Lai Chau City.

Vu Xuan Tinh, vice chief secretariat of the office of the province’s Steering Committee for Natural Disasters Prevention, Search and Rescue said that people whose houses were heavily affected by the weather had moved to safer places.

On Thursday, local authorities would review and report damage to deploy assistance.

The hailstorm on Wednesday is reported to be the sixth to hit Lai Chau Province since the beginning of last month.

Meanwhile, in Vinh Phuc Province, heavy rain in the last two days helped relieve the drought that has affected the province for the last few months.

In this year’s winter-spring rice crop, the province has cultivated about 30,000 ha of rice. Farms suffered from water shortages as most ponds, lakes and rivers in the province dried up. Local forests, including those in Tam Dao National Park, were at high risk of fire.

Wednesday’s downpour also caused floods in urban areas of Vinh Phuc Province, including the cities of Phuc Yen and Vinh Yen.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorology Forecasting, a cold spell would continue bringing rain to northern provinces until Friday.

From now to Sunday (April 26), temperatures in northern and north central provinces will drop to 15-18 degrees Celsius. Some northern mountainous provinces could have temperatures of less than 14 degrees Celsius.

Hanoi is expected to witness heavy rain and thunderstorms from Thursday afternoon to Friday. Temperatures in the city could drop to about 16-18 degrees Celsius.  VNS

Hail causes damage in Dien Bien province

Hail caused damage in several communes in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien on March 22.

Whirlwinds, hailstorms cause serious damage to northern Vietnam

One person was killed in Ha Giang while 14 others were injured in Ha Giang and Yen Bai provinces as of 16:00 on March 3, according to the central steering committee for natural disaster prevention.