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.