By Joe Cash
BEIJING, July 7 (Reuters) – Two tornadoes wrought devastation in central China’s Hubei province, killing at least 11 people, as winds of up to 149 kph (93 mph) overturned cars and ripped roofs from buildings, state media said on Tuesday.
Over four hours on Monday evening, gales measuring level 13 on the extended Beaufort wind force scale swept over the cities of Huangshi, Huanggang, Ezhou and Xianning, Xinhua news agency reported, citing Hubei’s emergency management authorities. At least one person was still missing, the report said.
Tornadoes are extremely rare in Hubei, a major industrial, automotive manufacturing and technology hub, Wang Xiaoling, an expert at the provincial meteorological bureau, told Hubei Daily. The last tornado in the province was in May 2021.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, is becoming increasingly exposed to extreme weather events that experts attribute to climate change.
Torrential rain, scorching summer heat and gale-force winds cause tens of billions of dollars in economic losses annually, disrupting industry and destroying crops.
DISASTER FOOTAGE
Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed rescue workers in Huanggang looking at a badly damaged truck cab that appeared to have been shredded by corrugated steel torn from the roof of a nearby building. Another clip showed a wrecked white car that had been blown into a lamp post that was also surrounded by sheets of twisted metal.
The National Meteorological Centre said northeastern Hubei should brace for further heavy to torrential rain on Tuesday.
It also warned of heavy rain for parts of the southwestern Guangxi region, the southern provinces of Guangdong and Hainan, and the more northerly Jilin, Shandong and Liaoning provinces, among other areas.
The Guangxi region, still reeling from Typhoon Maysak, which killed at least six people and left 11 missing over the past few days, should prepare for extremely heavy rain of up to 260 mm (10 inches) over the next 24 hours, which could trigger landslides, the forecast added.
Two people remained missing after a landslide in a mountainous county in western China’s Gansu province, state media reported. A total of 33 people were swept away in the early hours of the morning.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts” to rescue those affected by the floods, CCTV reported on Tuesday.
China also faces Super Typhoon Bavi, which is tracking across the Pacific towards Taiwan and forecast to make landfall along China’s eastern coast over the weekend.
TAIWAN EXPECTS HEAVY RAIN
Super Typhoon Bavi will begin affecting Taiwan from Friday with the worst of the wind and rain expected later that day and Saturday.
Taiwan cabinet Secretary-General Xavier Chang said in a Facebook post that Bavi may bring more than one metre (3.3 feet) of rain to parts of the island and almost 29,000 military personnel are on stand-by to help with relief efforts.
Bavi is expected to weaken slightly as it approaches northern Taiwan, but it may still remain a relatively large typhoon, with strength ranging from the lower end of a strong typhoon to the upper end of a moderate typhoon, the island’s weather administration said.
The storm packed winds of up to 289 kph (180 mph) as it swept across Guam, Tinian, Saipan and Rota on Monday.
(Reporting by Joe Cash; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Stephen Coates, Kate Mayberry, Michael Perry and Deepa Babington)
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