Munich storm: Several injured as hailstones the size of tennis balls lash city and smash cars

'Streets green with broken branches and leaves' after storm lashed Bavaria region, says witness

Hailstones as big as tennis balls have hammered Munich, injuring several people and smashing the windscreens of vehicles.

The ice storm lashed the southern German city on Monday, damaging homes and injuring a seven-year-old boy among others, local media said.

“Chunks of ice were hitting us like gunshots,” one motorist told the DPA news agency. She added: “In the towns you could see roof tiles on the street. The streets were green with broken-off branches and leaves.”

Meteorologists reportedly said the hailstones were up to 6cm in diameter – nearly the size of a tennis ball – while isolated reports suggested some may have been bigger still.

Winds with gusts up to 75mph also struck the Bavaria region during severe storms, reports cited the German weather service as saying.

It came as torrential rain caused flooding and travel disruption in England.

In some areas up to a month’s-worth of rain fell in just one day on Monday.

A Met Office weather warning covering the Midlands, parts of north Wales and northeast England was due to stay in effect until midnight.

Spray on the roads could cause treacherous driving conditions, forecasters said, while some flooding of homes was possible.