Tornado kills 9, injures 272 in China
2013-03-21 10:00
Beijing - The strongest recorded tornado to hit a southern
Chinese city left at least nine people dead and 272 injured, 11 of them in
critical condition, reports said on Thursday.
The tornado brought winds gusting at up to 177km per hour
and torrential rain and hail to Dongguan and nearby areas of Guangdong province
late Wednesday, state media said.
It was the strongest tornado to hit Dongguan since
meteorological records began, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Deng
Haoquan, a local government spokesman, as saying.
By Thursday morning, authorities had recorded nine deaths
and 158 people treated in hospital, including 11 in critical condition, Deng
said.
The semi-official China News Service published online
photographs of several prefabricated buildings that had collapsed or lost their
roofs.
Other photographs showed local residents holding
walnut-sized hailstones, and showed holes where hailstones had penetrated some
roofs, fallen trees and signposts, and an overturned car.
Nearby areas of Hunan and Jiangsu provinces were also hit by
hailstorms on Wednesday, reports said.
At least three people died and more than 50 were injured in
Hunan's Daoxian county, county government spokesperson Zhou Jingzhong was
quoted as saying.
- SAPA
