CSU/CIRA & KMA/NMSC/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
A satellite image shows Typhoon Bavi crossing the Marianas and continuing westward across the Philippine Sea, on Monday, in this screengrab from a handout video. Two tornadoes wrought devastation in central China’s Hubei province, killing at least 11 people, as winds of up to 93 mph overturned cars and ripped roofs from buildings, state media said today.
BEIJING >> Two tornadoes wrought devastation in central China’s Hubei province, killing at least 11 people, as winds of up to 93 mph overturned cars and ripped roofs from buildings, state media said today.
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.
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 lamppost that was also surrounded by sheets of twisted metal.
The National Meteorological Center said northeastern Hubei should brace for further heavy to torrential rain today.
Don’t miss out on what’s happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It’s FREE!
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 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 today.
China also faces Super Typhoon Bavi, which is tracking across the Pacific toward Taiwan and forecast to make landfall along China’s eastern coast over the weekend.
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 3.3 feet of rain to parts of the island and almost 29,000 military personnel are on standby 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 180 mph as it swept across Guam, Tinian, Saipan and Rota on Monday.
Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei.
