What’s new: Two people died after a tornado hit a village in Baoding in northern China’s Hebei province on Wednesday, according to local authorities.
The tornado hit Donglü village in the city’s Qingyuan district at around 5 pm, damaging several factories and severely injuring two people, who later died in hospital.
Some areas were also affected by heavy wind and hail, which lasted for about 30 minutes.
Local authorities have sent teams to repair damage to the power grid and gas pipelines.
The background: This year, tornadoes have struck several cities across China. In May, 12 people died and hundreds more were injured as tornadoes swept through the central city of Wuhan and the eastern city of Suzhou on the same day. And in June, a tornado hit the northeastern city of Shangzhi, Heilongjiang province, killing one and injuring 16 people.
Hebei province lies between Beijing and Henan province, which has been hit by severe weather in the past few days, including torrential rain since Tuesday. Local authorities have issued storm and flood disaster alerts for provincial cities including Xingtai and Handan.
Contact reporter Cai Xuejiao (xuejiaocai@caixin.com) and editor Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com)
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