From the article-
"Another tornado hit Wuhan at about 8:40 p.m. with winds of 86 kilometers (53 miles) per hour, destroying more than two dozen homes and triggering a power outage affecting 26,600 households, Xinhua said. Officials in Wuhan said at a news conference Saturday that eight had died and 230 were injured."
If 53 mph winds actually did this- it's an infrastructure problem as well as most Chinese people lack awareness of the weather phenomenon.
The lack of a warning system and underground bunkers as well as population density may have also contributed to the heavy casualties.
Tornadoes happen in China - rare because they are likely not reported most of the time due to lack of awareness or strong enough to cause harm. But if 53mph winds are accurate in this report, then my theory is that China (even Wuhan) is not built up to Tornado standards that nearly all the Lower 48 is.
FTR- 53mph winds (sustained which is 2 minute avg- not gusts) occur on the Great Plains quite frequently and gusts to 57 mph (criteria for severe thunderstorm) occur almost everywhere over a years time from in the Great Plains.
What caused them to happen? The same way they do all over the globe. They happen all the time, only reported when the media reports it. As with this one in China
5 years ago