Ferocious storm dumps five feet of hail in Argentina

This is the aftermath of a ferocious storm in Argentina which dumped 5ft of hail, ruined crops and battered cars and homes.

Hail stones the size of tennis balls hammered down on La Cruz in central Argentina, sparking evacuations and swamping roads in a sea of icy water.

Pictures show cars submerged in hail and bulldozers trying to clear roads after the storm lashed the town of 3,000, which lies 70 miles south of the city of Cordoba.

Hail stones the size of tennis balls hammered down on La Cruz in central Argentina, sparking evacuations and swamping roads in a sea of icy water

Nobody was reported to have been badly hurt in the storm, but at least one woman was treated for hypothermia after she was left stranded on her motorbike. 

Homes and vehicles were damaged and crops were flattened in the freak downfall.

According to La Nacion, conditions were made worse when nearly 3 ins of rain lashed down on the same day.

Incredibly, nobody was reported to have been hurt in the storm, despite images showing that some of the hail stones were the size of tennis balls

Conditions were made worse when nearly 3 ins of rain lashed down on the same day. Pictures show the size of some of the hail stones

Fire Chief Martin Bustos said meteorologists had issued an alert but that authorities could not have imagined ‘such an impressive phenomenon’

Pictures show cars submerged in hail and bulldozers trying to clear roads after the storm lashed the town of 3,000, which lies 70 miles south of the city of Cordoba

Fire Chief Martin Bustos said meteorologists had issued an alert but that authorities could not have imagined ‘such an impressive phenomenon’.

Emergency crews worked throughout the day to clear roads after the storm on Thursday. 

Other towns hit in the region included Almafuerte, Río Tercero and Embalse, local reports said.