Man blown from 12th-floor apartment as survivors recount deadly Hubei tornadoes
Eleven people were killed and hundreds more injured after two tornadoes barrelled through China’s Hubei province on Monday (Jul 6).
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HUBEI: A 30-year-old man was blown from his 12th-floor apartment after twin tornadoes tore through parts of China’s Hubei province on Monday (Jul 6), one of several harrowing accounts to emerge from a disaster that has killed 11 people and injured 331.
The man, surnamed Zhang, was swept out of his apartment in Huanggang city and fell onto bushes below the building, his family told local media. Huanggang was among the worst-hit areas as winds of up to 149kmh ripped through homes and neighbourhoods.
The strong winds shattered the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling windows, and sent furniture and household items flying out of the home.
Zhang was found unconscious beneath the apartment building by his cousin, surnamed Liu, who lived on the 20th floor. The cousin had decided to check on Zhang and his family after noticing that a neighbour’s window had been damaged by the strong winds.
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While knocking on the door, he heard Zhang’s wife crying out that her husband had fallen out of the building. Liu immediately ran downstairs to search for Zhang.
“When I found him, he was already unconscious, with only faint breathing,” Liu told Hunan-based news outlet Xiaoxiang Morning Herald.
Zhang was later taken to hospital for emergency treatment and remains in a coma.
According to the report, Zhang’s wife and their one-year-old baby had been trapped in the bedroom when the storm struck. After it subsided, she searched the apartment but could not find her husband.
“I was extremely anxious,” she said. “I saw people in the building opposite, so I kept shouting for help and begging them to help me look for my husband, but no one responded.”
The thunderstorms and strong winds that swept through Hubei have affected 14,600 people as of Tuesday, according to state news agency Xinhua. One person remained missing, while 22 houses collapsed and 4,855 homes were damaged.
RESIDENTS RECOUNT MOMENTS OF TERROR
Other residents in Hubei also recounted their ordeals.
Another Huanggang resident surnamed Wu described helplessly watching as his parents were swept into the air by the tornadoes.
Wu, the manager of a logistics park, told Beijing-based news outlet China Newsweek his parents had been sitting in the compound’s courtyard on Monday evening enjoying the cool air when the tornado swept through. He witnessed them being swept into the sky.
Their bodies were recovered the following day, Wu said.
One resident in the city’s Changjiang district, Li You, said the windows and roof of his three-storey building were blown off.
“It was all over in three to five minutes, but it dealt a catastrophic blow,” Li said, as quoted by China Newsweek. Li and his family have been relocated to a hotel, but he said they were unable to calculate their economic losses.
“The house was only built 10 years ago. It would probably have to be rebuilt,” he said.
At Huanggang Normal University, students also recalled the terrifying moments when the storm hit.
One student, Liu Ya, said a violent storm struck at around 8pm, shattering dormitory windows and sending glass shards flying.
Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some regions experience intense rainfall while others bake in scorching heat. The tornadoes in Hubei come amid a wider stretch of severe weather in other parts of the country.
On Tuesday, a landslide in northwestern Gansu province killed 21 people. Meanwhile, at least six people were killed and 11 are missing after Typhoon Maysak ravaged Guangxi in the south.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for all-out efforts in emergency rescue, medical treatment for the injured and resettlement of those affected.
Xi said every effort should be made to safeguard people’s lives and property while minimising casualties and preventing secondary disasters, state media reported. He also called on local governments and departments to implement flood prevention measures.
The Communist Party has allocated 60 million yuan (US$8.8 million) from party membership funds to support flood prevention and disaster relief efforts in five provincial-level regions, including Guangxi and Gansu, according to Xinhua.
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