China braces for more heavy rains after tornadoes kill 12 on Friday
- Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region expected to bear the brunt of the downpours
- Level 10 thunderstorms forecast for Yichun, Nanchang, Jiujiang and Shangrao in Jiangxi
China’s meteorological authority issued a blue weather warning on Sunday in response to forecasts of heavy rain in eastern and southern parts of the country.
The provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region are expected to bear the brunt of the downpours, with the latter set to see up to 130mm (five inches) of rain per hour through Monday morning.
The recent hot spell in Jiangxi province will be replaced by thunderstorms, China News Service reported.
The Jiangxi cities of Yichun, Nanchang, Jiujiang and Shangrao in the Poyang Lake area are expected to see level 10 thunderstorms on Sunday evening, it said.
The forecast comes after tornadoes in the Shengze township of Suzhou, Zhejiang and the Caidian district of Wuhan in Hubei province on Friday evening left 12 people dead.
In Shengze, four people were killed and 149 sustained minor injuries when the tornado struck about 7pm, according to the Suzhou city government. The high winds also toppled factory buildings and damaged electricity infrastructure, it said.