This bizarre footage shows how a freak hailstorm sent ice balls blasting out of a toilet bowl in a family bathroom.

The strange weather twist hit the town of Pinerolo, a municipality in north-west Italy, on 22nd May.

Locals were stunned when hailstones erupted from their loos during the storm.

One video showed a toilet bowl suddenly gurgling before chunks of hail exploded up through the water and onto the seat.

The footage quickly spread across social media as stunned users tried to work out what had happened.

One clip, shared by meteorologist Andrea Vuolo, shows hail raining down outside before the camera turns to the inside of a home where ice shoots from a toilet bowl.

Vuolo said: "The hailstones entered the pipes through the vents on the roof and accumulated inside the plumbing, coming out of the sanitary fixtures like the toilet."

Pinerolo is located in the Piedmont region near Turin.

The hailstorm battered other areas too, with Coldiretti, the national farmers' association, reporting that fruit crops in Pinerolo and Ivrea were damaged.

Hail as large as two centimetres (0.8 inches) was reported, leaving apple and cherry growers fearing a ruined harvest.

The plumbing blowout raised concerns about rare pressure reversals in residential pipe systems.

Experts said heavy hail can clog or over-pressurise vented outlets, sending the contents backwards through home plumbing.

(MJ Leidig/newsX)