Rare hailstones that pelted parts of Beijing twice on Tuesday caused 48.16 million yuan (about US$5.8 million) in direct economic losses, the Beijing News reported on Thursday.

The newspaper cited information from the municipal bureau of civil affairs as saying main areas affected by the hailstones were Mentougou, Tongzhou, Daxing, Fangshan, Pinggu and Huairou, with Fangshan and Daxing being the worst hit.

Farm crops, mostly cash crops, with a combined area of 13,374 hectares, together with 87,666 people, were affected in the rare weather in the national capital.

Compared to the suburbs, the impact of the rare weather was lighter in downtown areas.

But sources from the Beijing Branch of People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) said they received 6,900 claims of compensation by Wednesday afternoon.

Walnut-sized hailstones pelted the southern and eastern parts of Beijing for about 10 minutes at around 2:30 PM for the first time and hit more areas of the city for about five minutes around 7:10 PM a second time in the day.

In downtown areas, many people rushed to open parking areas to check on their cars, only to find most imprinted by the hailstones. Some bicycle riders in rain coats protected their heads with one hand while cycling home. Some residents had their windows broken by hailstones.   

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2005)