Toddler Struck By Fist-sized Hail Dies; Multiple Injured As Massive Storm Hits Spanish Village

A violent hailstorm caused unprecedented chaos and damage in the Catalonia region of Spain. A 20-month-old girl died after being struck by a fist-sized hailstone on the head and about 50 others were seriously injured, officials said Wednesday.

The toddler was struck in the head in La Bisbal d'Emporda and was immediately taken to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

"There wasn't much that could be done for her and she died today. It was a terrible accident," said La Bisbal d'Empordà mayor Carme Vall, as reported by the Guardian.

Others had sustained head injuries, cuts, and broken bones from the hailstones. The 10-minute long storm Tuesday damaged several cars, shattered windows and roofs, and brought down power lines in the aftermath.

"People started screaming and hiding", said musician Sicus Carbonell, who witnessed the devastating impact of the storm, Reuters reported. His band was playing at a nearby hotel when the hailstorm started.

Little boys and girls were running around alone and some parents managed to get hold of their children to protect them, Carbonell said.

"There was a little girl of around three or four who was not sheltering under the parasol. I ran out and grabbed her," he told the news agency.

According to a tweet by the Catalonian meteorological office MeteoCat, the hailstones, recorded 10cm in diameter, were the largest measured in Spain in two decades.

Catalonia's regional firefighting service received multiple calls from the village, saying that the hailstorm had brought down cable lines and broken roof tiles in several houses.

Taking to Twitter, social media users shared multiple videos of the havoc caused by the hailstorm. One video shows hailstones falling like rocks in a backyard pool to create large splashes of water in the air.

In this video, recorded from inside a car, huge hailstones can be smashing the vehicle's windshield with force.

Another video shows shattered windows of cars parked on a street. "Half of the cars in La Bisbal destroyed," the caption says in English translation.