A tornado struck the Chinese city of Guangzhou over the weekend, killing at least five people and injuring 33 others, state media reported. In the latest episode of extreme weather to hit the country’s industrial heartland.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said a tornado struck the capital of the country’s southern Guangdong province on Saturday. Approximately 140 factories were damaged, but there were no reports of collapsed houses.
Guangdong, China’s most populous province, is home to 127 million people and thousands of factories that support the country’s export sector.
Aerial photos published by Chinese state media on Sunday showed the tornado causing widespread damage in parts of the city. Images show block-by-block damage in the worst-hit areas, with several buildings clustered together in the destruction.
Rescue workers from the city’s Emergency Management Department, Meteorological Department, Fire Department, Water Department and Health Department, as well as local residents, were dispatched to the spot, Xinhua News Agency said, adding that search and rescue operations were completed there.
Earlier this week, heavy rains caused severe flooding in Guangdong province, killing four people and reporting the worst flooding in some parts of the province since the 1950s.
Tornadoes are not uncommon in China. In 2023, Jiangsu province was hit by a severe storm that killed 10 people after heavy rains battered southeastern China, causing mass evacuations and landslides in the wake of unrelenting weather from the remnants of Typhoon Haikui.
Two tornadoes hit the country in one day in 2021, killing 12 people, including eight in Wuhan.
Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report
