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Hailstorms ravaged southern parts of China early this week, killing 13 people, closing an expressway, and destroying crops on at least 81,300 hectares of farmland, officials said Monday.

Seven people were killed and one injured when a bus was hit in a landslide caused by the hailstorms in mountainous Chongqing Municipality on Monday, while six were killed by falling roofs and lightning on Sunday and Monday, according to the Chongqing office of disaster relief.

More than one million people were affected in 12 counties of Chongqing and economic losses are estimated at 198 million yuan, according to the office.

The hailstorms also led to the collapse of 158 houses and damaged crops on more than 80,000 hectares of farmland in Chongqing.

Part of the Yuyi Expressway was closed between 5:05 PM and 7 PM on Sunday after it became dark in the hailstorm.

Meanwhile, some 23,000 people were affected and 20 rural houses collapsed in a hailstorm that hit Xuanhan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Sunday.

The hailstorm also destroyed crops over more than 1,300 hectares of farmland and damaged another 85 houses, said Luo Anchun, a local official in charge of disaster relief affairs.

Hailstones "the size of eggs" started crashing down on Xuanhan at around 8 a.m. and trees were soon stripped of leaves, seedlings crushed, and roofs broken.

Zhang Zhike, an official from Dazhou city who went to Xuanhan county to coordinate disaster relief work, said the hail in Longquan town, one of the worst hit areas, were still "the size of quail eggs" on the second day and local villagers were cleaning up with shovels.

Xuanhan county party chief Zhang Lizhong said ten towns and 87 villages were hit by hailstorms.

Also on Sunday, similarly large hail pelted five counties in Fujian Province, on the southeast China seaboard, punching holes in thousands of homes.

In the Shenghuang Township of Minqing County, one of the worst hit areas in Fujian, more than 10,000 residents from 4,000 households were affected. The storm caused direct economic losses of 11.7 million yuan.

Hail also destroyed power supply facilities in Lingkou, a village in northern Fujian.

So far there have been no reports of casualties in Sichuan and Fujian.

However, the hailstorms also eased the drought that has been plaguing southwest China.

The hailstorms ended water shortages for 110,000 people and 81,000 heads of livestock in Chongqing, but 1.61 million people and 1.23 million heads of livestock are still short of drinking water.

Meteorologists in Sichuan, where more than 5 million people had been short of drinking water, said Monday that the hailstorms eased drought but warned of damages to crops.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2007)