Two days after the first hailstorm hit northern Lao Cai Province and injured 26 people, the second broke out there yesterday, leaving over 100 houses damaged and and two people wounded, authorities reported.

The hailstorm, together with a vortex, occurred at 2 am Friday in three communes and a town of low-lying Bao Yen District and lasted for about 30 minutes, the district People’s Committee said.

With hailstones as large as aldults’ fists or bowls, the hailstorm  knocked down four houses and damaged more than 100 others. In addition, nin hectares of rice, a school and a health center were also seriously damaged in the hailstorm.

According to reports from the affected areas, at least two people were injuried in the disaster, of whom one suffered from spine trauma, said Do Le Tin, chairman of the committee .

As reviously reported, a hailstormwith hailstones as large as 8-10 cm in diameter hit 26 communes and towns in Muong Khuong District, 50 km from Lao Cai City, at midnight Wednesday

More than 10,500 houses have been damaged, many trees and crops were destroyed, and at least 26 people were injured in the storm, according to the National Search and Rescue Committee.

Another hailstorm occurred the same day  in three districts of Ha Giang Province, which borders Lao Cai, damaging about 80 houses, the committee said.

Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Central Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center, has warned that hails or thunderstorms may occur in any areas between March and May, the transitional period between dry and wet seasons in Vietnam.