NEWS

Hit by Hailstones: Heavy storm causes injuries, damage in Russian’s Altai Region

Updated: March 19, 2017 at 11:37 am EST  See Comments

image from www.04.mchs.gov.ru

A woman has been taken to hospital with a head injury.

The hailstorm hit the Altay Region in southern Sibera, over 3,500 kilometers from Moscow.

Many cars were also damaged in the hail, which lasted for about 10 minutes, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Over 3,000 homes and facilities were damaged, and about 1,600 square meters of windows were broken in the area during the storm, said Svetlana Lyashko, a representative of the local Emergency Situations Ministry.

A massive electricity outage was registered in the region hit by the hail.

To assess the damage, 15 rescue groups with 102 staff and 27 units of special equipment were deployed to the area.

On Tuesday, meteorologists predict heavy thunderstorms, rain and hail.

The storm came not long after the region was hit by its annual flood season, which this year affected 40,000 people.

Two weeks ago, a similar hailstorm hit the city of Novosibirsk due to the sharp decrease in temperatures: from +41 to +21 Celsius. A video that went viral showed the hail and the people running from a beach, some of them horrified and some trying to joke about the harsh Siberian climate.