Tornadoes kill 12 and injure hundreds in China

BACK-TO-BACK tornadoes have killed 12 people in central and eastern China and left more than 300 others injured, authorities said.

Eight people died in the inland city of Wuhan on Friday night and four others in the town of Shengze, about 250 miles to the east in Jiangsu province, local governments said.

The first tornado struck Shengze about 7pm local time (12pm BST on Friday), damaging homes and factories and knocking out power, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Suzhou city government, which oversees the town, said in a social media post that four people had died and 149 others had minor injuries.

Shengze is close to Shanghai on China’s east coast.

Another tornado hit Wuhan at about 8.40pm (1.40pm BST) with winds of 53mph, destroying more than two dozen homes and triggering a power outage affecting 26,600 households, Xinhua said.

It was reported eight people had died and 230 were injured.