By IANS,
Beijing : Hailstorms in China caused havoc, killing 29 people from March to April 20 and destroying various houses, said statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
According to the ministry, the hailstorms struck 270 county-level areas across 24 provincial regions since March this year, Xinhua reported.
As of Friday afternoon, hailstorms had affected about three million people, and resulted in direct economic losses of over three billion yuan (over $535 million).
Of the 29 deaths, ten were reported by Jiangxi province, seven by Zhejiang, three by Xinjiang, two by Hunan, two by Guizhou, and one respectively by Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Guangdong and Yunnan.
In the latest havoc, gales and hailstorms damaged 11,864 houses, affecting more than 230,000 people in Wanyuan city, southwestern province of Sichuan, since Friday night.