PEKING, Friday

HAILSTONES weighing up to a half-pound killed at least 87 people

during a violent storm which raged across south-west China.

A further 4200 were injured and thousands of houses destroyed, the New

China News Agency said today.

The storm struck more than 10 cities before dawn yesterday, leaving a

trail of destruction as it tore for five hours through densely populated

Sichuan province, spreading at a speed of about 28 yards a second.

Reports said that the city of Luzhou suffered damage to 90,000 houses.

The roofs of some were blown off and 70% of houses in the suburbs were

demolished.Many thousands of acres of crops were ruined.