Recently, during the May Day holiday in mainland China, hundreds of tourists traveled to the Hongshui River in Guangxi. Unexpectedly, they were caught in a sudden severe weather of strong winds and heavy rain. The sky turned dark instantly, causing panic among the tourists who rushed towards the shore. Many tourists later described the experience as a disaster akin to crossing a calamity.
A video circulating online showed that on May 2, many tourists were playing paddle boards and kayaks on the Hongshui River in Tian’e County. The sky suddenly darkened, followed by strong winds and pouring rain. Tourists quickly paddled towards the shore to seek safety, with some of them having their paddle boards overturned and falling into the water. One of the tourists captioned the video, “Thought we were on a ‘holiday’, turns out it was a ‘calamity’. ‘Strong winds and heavy rain, life hanging by a thread, the May Day holiday has crossed all the calamities in this lifetime.'”
On the afternoon of the 4th, a paddle board rental business near the Hongshui River in Tian’e County informed JiMu News that around 6 p.m. that day, the area was suddenly hit by a storm with strong winds and heavy rain. Fortunately, there were no casualties among the tourists after the rescue operation.
In response to the incident, staff from the Tian’e County Cultural and Tourism Bureau stated that the storm lasted for about half an hour. Since tourists are required to wear life jackets before getting into the water for paddle boarding, there were no reported injuries among the tourists.