Thunderstorms and hailstones hit Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, and some neighboring counties Friday afternoon, claiming nine lives.
A person is still missing and six others were injured, according to the Guizhou Provincial Civil Affairs Department.
At Qingzhen Horse Farm of Guiyang, each square meter of land had 300 hailstones on it with the largest having a diameter of 45 millimeters.
A house in Guiyang collapsed in the rainstorm, killing two people and injuring six.
Lightning killed six people in Anshun and one in Bijie.
Two boats carrying 30 passengers in the Baihua scenic zone of Guiyang capsized during the thunderstorm. There were 29 people saved, but one is missing.
Guizhou had three large-scale hailstones so far this year, which killed 11 people and 56 head of livestock, damaged crops on 80,000 hectares of land and destroyed 5,100 houses, causing a direct economic loss of 300 million yuan.
(Xinhua 05/06/2001)
