China warns of more bad weather after five people killed in tornado

Tornado hits the eastern city of Suqian in the latest of a string of extreme weather events to hit the country.

China has warned of more bad weather ahead after a tornado ripped through an eastern city, killing at least five people and injuring four.

The tornado hit Suqian in Jiangsu province on Tuesday afternoon, according to state broadcaster CCTV. It was the latest in a series of extreme weather events to hit the country.

The tornado was brief but fierce with social media images showing overturned cars, power lines and trees lying on the street, and roofs ripped apart.

“I was at the door and witnessed the wind, solar energy devices and trees flying in the air,” one user wrote on the popular social media platform Weibo. “For those two minutes, I was dumbfounded.”

State media said more than 5,500 people had been affected by the tornado, and 1,800 homes were damaged or destroyed.

High winds and torrential rain also destroyed fields of crops.

Weather warnings also went out on Wednesday for the southwestern region of Chongqing, several areas in southwestern Guizhou, southern Hunan, eastern Anhui and central Hubei.

China saw record-breaking downpours and weeks of historic heat this summer with scientists saying the wild weather was being exacerbated by climate change.

Whole villages in Jiangsu were levelled and at least 98 people were killed in 2016 after the region was hit by a storm with hurricane-force winds and the worst tornado in half a century.