At least 12 dead and 400 injured after two tornadoes hit

At least 12 dead and over 400 injured. This is the heavy toll left behind by two tornadoes in central and eastern China, local authorities said on Saturday.

Strong winds swept through the metropolis of Wuhan, located in the center of the country and a time cradle of the coronavirus pandemic, on Friday evening. They left eight dead and 280 injured, authorities in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, told a press conference. A previous report reported six deaths.

#China > #Tornado in and around Suzhou / #Shanghai metro pic.twitter.com/18MHyX6ZAZ https://t.co/j7LLAs0GkP

– Michael Barthel (@RealMiBaWi) May 14, 2021

Dozens of collapsed homes

The winds blew up to 260 km / h and caused significant damage, according to the authorities. Gusts such as two construction cranes were damaged, with one collapsing on a construction site. In addition to vehicles damaged by falling objects, trees were uprooted, sheet metal sheds partly destroyed and electricity poles grounded, depriving more than 26,000 homes of electricity. Nearly thirty homes collapsed, according to the Hubei authorities.

The city of Suzhou, near Shanghai, was also struck by a powerful tornado on Friday evening with winds exceeding 200 km / h, according to local authorities. A report shows four dead and one missing, as well as 130 minor injuries. Images posted on social networks showed a black vortex causing significant damage in its path. At the beginning of May already, a violent storm accompanied by strong winds had killed 11 people in a city near Shanghai.