China is experiencing extreme weather conditions. On May 8th, Yueyang County in Hunan Province was hit by a severe windstorm and heavy rain, causing some houses to collapse and roofs to be blown off. Middle-aged residents mentioned that they had never seen such strong winds before, with some describing it as a once-in-a-century monstrous storm.
On May 8th, mainland residents took to social media to share videos of their damaged homes, fallen trees, roofs stripped of tiles, and cars damaged by hail.
Videos showed entire rooftops of parking sheds being blown off.
According to reports from various mainland media outlets including Red Star News and Ji Mu News, at 8:22 am on May 8th, Yueyang County Meteorological Observatory issued a red alert for thunderstorms and strong winds. It was forecasted that within the next 2 hours, the county would experience wind gusts of over 12 levels accompanied by intense thunderstorms, short but heavy rainfall, posing extreme risks of disasters.
On May 8th, a villager named Mr. Huang from Baixiang Town in Yueyang County said that their two-story tiled roof house was heavily impacted by the morning windstorm and rain. Large sections of their roof tiles were blown off, and the shed in their yard was also damaged.
Videos filmed by residents during the morning rush hour showed flooded streets with vehicles driving through the water.
In the afternoon of the 8th, Mr. Fu from Baixiang Town in Yueyang County told reporters that his home suffered severe damage. “The sky suddenly darkened, the streetlights were on. It was both windy and rainy. The house we built last year collapsed, crushed my car, and killed our two dogs. Many trees along the road were snapped in half by the strong winds.”
Mr. Fu, aged 45, mentioned that he had never experienced such a strong wind before. A woman in another video lamented how her factory’s roof was scattered, calling it a once-in-a-century storm, a monstrous wind had arrived.
Another villager from Baixiang Town mentioned that the roof tiles of her house were also blown away. She described their home as nearly becoming a waterfall, expressing that the windows of houses across the street were shattered and some homes had their water heaters blown down.
According to CCTV News of the Chinese Communist Party, on the morning of May 8th, Yueyang County was hit by severe windstorms and heavy rain, resulting in the collapse of 6 houses and damage to over 100 more. After the disaster, over 40 people were evacuated with no casualties reported.
However, due to the Chinese Communist Party’s tendency to conceal information, the actual numbers of casualties remain unknown.
The Beijing Central Meteorological Observatory reported that meteorological monitoring indicated that on the previous day (May 7th), regions including the eastern part of Chongqing, southwestern Hubei, northwestern Hunan, northeastern Guangxi, central-western Guangdong, and northern Taiwan experienced heavy to torrential rain. Localities such as Pengshui in Chongqing, Enshi in Hubei, Zhangjiajie in Hunan, Zhaoqing and Jiangmen in Guangdong witnessed localized heavy rain (100-192 mm). Today, the southern regions are entering the period of heaviest rainfall, with widespread heavy to torrential rainfall and intense local rainfall.
It is forecasted that from daytime to nighttime today, some regions in Jianghuai, eastern Jianghan, southwestern and eastern Jiangnan, northern parts of South China, northern parts of North China, among other areas will experience heavy to torrential rainfall. Localities such as southwestern Anhui, eastern Hubei, northeastern Jiangxi, western Zhejiang, and northern Guangxi may see heavy rain, with some areas experiencing localized heavy rain; some regions will also experience intense convective weather including short but heavy rainfall, thunderstorms with winds of level 8 or higher, and hail. In specific areas like southwestern Anhui, eastern Hubei, eastern Hunan, central-northern Jiangxi, northeastern Guangxi, thunderstorms with winds of level 10 or above are expected, with the maximum wind force potentially exceeding level 11. Possibility of tornadoes cannot be ruled out in certain areas like northern Jiangxi.