A young girl has died in Spain following a hailstone storm in the northeast of the country which was described as ‘ten minutes of terror,’ according to local officials.
Speaking to radio RAC1, Carme Vall, a city councillor in the Catalan town of La Bisbal de l'Emporda, said a 20-month-old was reportedly struck in the head by a hailstone and “she did not survive.”
The balls of hail falling from the sky were up to 11 centimetres wide and caused destruction across the area to cars and buildings.
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"The hail only fell for 10 minutes, but it was 10 minutes of terror," Carme Vall said, adding the hailstones that had fallen in the area were up to 11 centimetres wide.
"Only hailstones were falling, hardly any rain."
The child was rushed to the Josep Trueta Hospital in the city of Girona but was pronounced dead overnight. In a statement, the hospital said the extent of her injuries caused her death.
Catalonia's weather office said the hailstones that fell in the region near Spain's border with France were the biggest they’d recorded in more than 20 years.
Spanish tv news updates showed images of cars in the street with shattered windscreens and dents on their roofs from the impact of the hailstones.
Footage of the weather even also showed that the stained glass windows of the local church were also smashed.
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