Nature’s wrath: China’s six most destructive tornadoes
The mainland is no stranger to natural disasters, especially earthquakes, typhoons and floods. Tornadoes, though less common, still cause great loss of life and property
Powerful tornadoes, when they occur in China, tend to hit densely populated areas and cause large casualties. The tornado that killed 98 people in Yancheng, Jiangsu on Thursday was rated 2 on the Fujita scale (F2), with winds of about 200km/h capable of causing “considerable” damage.
The Fujita scale, developed by Theodore Fujita of the University of Chicago in 1971 and used to rate the strength of tornadoes around the world, has six levels of intensity, ranging from the weakest F0, or light damage, to the strongest F5, whose winds above 322km/h cause “incredible damage” such as ripping strong homes off foundations and hurling trucks and even train carriages though the air.
Six F4 tornadoes have been recorded in China since 1949 with wind twice as strong as Thursday’s disaster. One of them happened in the same city, Yancheng, in 1966, causing a similar number of casualties. Two others occurred in Shanghai.
An F4 tornado, with winds of between 267-322km/h, can cause “extreme damage” with “well-constructed houses levelled; structures with weak foundations blown away some distance and cars thrown in the air with the speed of missile”.
The list below drew from an article posted earlier this month on Meteorology Enthusiast, a public weibo account set up by a team professional weather scientists in China.
Shanghai, 1956
Deaths: classified
Injuries: classified
The tornado touched down in the southern districts of the city on the morning of September 24. Over the next hour, the “lean” twister only about 100 metres wide cut a straight northerly path through the city centre. Many residential buildings were torn out of the ground.
The remains of some victims and their household belongings were found more than 10km away from their destroyed homes. Witnesses likened the sound of the tornado to a formation of bombers, causing the ground to shake with regular explosions.
An empty oil tank weighing more that 10 tonnes was hurled more than 120 metres. Five workers sheltering inside the tank were severely injured but survived. Hundreds of students at Shanghai Polytechnic University were buried under collapsed buildings. After the tornado many people believed the damage was caused by an American air raid from Taiwan. Total casualties were not revealed by the authorities.
Bazhou-Tianjin, 1966
Deaths: nearly 100
Injuries: thousands
The tornado was formed over Bazhou city, Hebei province at about 7:30pm on August 29 and struck the centre of Tianjin about an hour later. Eight factories, a high school and a college in Tianjin were destroyed. Other towns in Hebei lay in ruins, with farmers reporting large fragments of buildings weighing more than 100kg in weight falling on their roofs.
Yancheng, 1966
Deaths: 87
Injuries: unknown
The tornado struck on March 3 in the southwest suburbs of this Yangtze River port in Jiangsu province and moved northeast with diameter of about one kilometre for more than an hour. The storm left 30 river vessels missing and up to 400,000 buildings damaged, according to some estimates.
Xiangyin, 1983
Deaths: nearly 100
Injuries: over 1,000
The strongest tornado recorded in central China struck struck Xiangyin county in Hunan province on April 27 and travelled more than 50km northeast to Meixian county. An ancient tree more than 20 metres tall was uprooted and two school pupils were killed after being flung more than 300m into the air. Large amounts of fish and shrimp were found in high mountains nearby.
Hailun, 1987
Deaths: unknown
Injuries: unknown
At least six F4 tornados occurred at the same time across Hailun county in Heilongjiang province on July 31. Farm vehicles and other equipment weighing several tonnes or more were flung more than a kilometre and were ripped apart. Fourteen counties and cities were affected, but no report of casualties was released.
Shanghai tornado, 1986
Deaths: 25
Injuries: 128
Several tornadoes struck the city at about the same time on July 11, destroying 4,800 buildings, 11 schools and 14 factories. China’s future president Jiang Zemin was the city’s mayor at the time. The tornadoes were of similar strength to the one in 1956.
