A toddler has died after being hit by a huge hail stone during a horror storm.
The 20-month-old girl was one of 30 people injured by hail stones which measured four inches wide during the freak weather in La Bisbal de l’Emporda, Catalonia, Spain.
The tot was rushed to Josep Trueta hospital in Girona, 29km away but died hours later.
A woman who was injured in the storm remains in the same hospital trying to recover from her injuries.
Another 28 people suffered head injuries, broken bones and needed stitches for cuts after the ice rocks came smashing down from the sky on Tuesday.
Local weather experts said the hailstones were the largest they had seen for 20 years.
Cars were also damaged by the storm.
The nationality and identity of the young girl killed has not yet been released by Catalan police.
Tourists travelling to Spain were warned earlier this month they could be caught up in rare Mediterranean hurricanes.
Experts said the risk of tropical-like cyclones called medicanes had increased with this year’s record heatwaves affecting the UK’s favourite holiday destination and the rise in sea temperatures blamed on global warming.
Oceanographer and weather expert Yurima Celdran, said: “Higher Mediterranean temperatures provide a greater source of energy for medicanes and amplify their destructivity.
“Sea temperatures this autumn are expected to be higher than normal and if the necessary atmosphere conditions are in place, it would not be unreasonable to think the Mediterranean could harbour a medicane this year.”
Torrential rain, terrifying lightning storms and flash floods in September 2019 which battered the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, claimed the lives of seven people.
The deadliest-known hailstorm in history was the 1888 storm in the Indian city of Moradabad.
Nearly 250 people were killed after being hit by hailstones the size of oranges.
The world record for the largest hailstone was eight inches wide and weighed 878 grams, as it plummeted from the sky in Vivian, South Dakota in 2010.
