THE death toll in a tornado that hit Wuhan, capital of Central China’s Hubei Province, on Friday, has risen to eight, while 230 others were injured, according to a press conference by the city government Saturday afternoon.

The tornado, packing winds of 23.9 meters per second, ripped through the Caidian District of Wuhan at 8:39 p.m. Friday, toppling some construction site sheds and snapping a large number of trees.

According to an investigation by the city, 3,568 people were affected by the disaster. Houses of 28 households collapsed, and those of 130 households were damaged.

A tower crane was bent to the ground at the site of a domestic waste incineration power generation plant, where a signal tower was also knocked down by the tornado. Workers’ sheds at the construction site were damaged.

Meanwhile, a tornado wrecked havoc in Suzhou in East China’s Jiangsu Province on Friday. The Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Emergency Management has verified that four people are dead and 19 others injured in Shengze Township. A total of 84 households and 17 companies sustained damage in the disaster, which also caused power outages, the bureau added.

Also, starting Friday, gales and hail were seen in Jiangxi Province’s counties and districts, including Yongxiu County in the city of Jiujiang and Changjiang District in the city of Jingdezhen.

On Saturday, gales as strong as 44.5 meters per second began to hit Kaiyang County under the jurisdiction of the provincial capital Guiyang, Guizhou Province, said the emergency management bureau of Kaiyang.(Xinhua)