Three people died after typhoon-like winds pulled them out through their apartment windows in southern China, as extreme weather battered the region over the past week.

A total of seven people had died in Jiangxi province since the exceptionally strong winds began on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday. More than 5,400 houses were damaged and 313,000 people affected, of whom about 1,600 had to be evacuated to safety, it added.

The Chinese meteorological authority issued an orange alert - the highest on its three-tier warning system – on Tuesday, the first since 2013, according to the state-run Global Times.

Four deaths and at least 10 injuries were reported in the provincial capital Nanchang, the hardest-hit city, when severe thunderstorms and heavy rains hit on Sunday, according to CCTV.

  • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Well holy hell! That’s is really scary and hardcore. I can only imagine the windforce it must have taken…

    • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      You don’t have to imagine. They said it was level 10-12 winds which is 55-83 mph. That’s a category 1 hurricane.

      And to be honest a cat 1 hurricane seems like it shouldnt be able to rip people out of their houses. I guess they are built different over there.

      • ickplant@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        We currently have winds of over 75 mph in Colorado. Driving was a nightmare, but I can’t imagine this pulling me out of a window of a building. Maybe there was a huge gust?

      • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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        8 months ago

        If you were going to look out the window to see the crazy storm, and you only opened the window just enough to lean out - which makes sense because of the wind and the rain - and you completely filled the window gap, then I could see it happening. Especially if the windows were near the corners where the flow would speed up and lower the pressure even more, and the wind happened to gust just at that moment, and you were high up where the winds would be stronger. It wouldn’t happen a lot - maybe something like three times in a city of millions of people, just to pull a number out of my arse.

        It just takes a moment of bad luck, especially if you weren’t holding onto anything.

        • can@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          Among them were a woman in her 60s and her 11-year-old grandson, yanked from their apartment windows by strong wind together with their mattresses, according to CCTV citing media reports

          Mattress was taking a peak too I guess.

          • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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            8 months ago

            Oh wow, I guess not then. That only makes sense if the windows broke suddenly, which fits with the fact the other victim was in the same complex. They also say air-conditioners were blown off.

            That’s terrifying because there really wouldn’t be any warning.