Chinanews.com, Wuhan, May 15th, title: Wuhan Tornado Experience: Working hard with workers to stand the door and save themselves

  Reporter Zhang Qin

  Recalling the strong wind on the evening of the 14th, Du Guochang, a native of Zhumadian, Henan who worked in Wuhan, still had lingering fears.

"It started with lightning and thunder, and then the entire mobile board room was shaking, and the ceiling above his head was "cracking" down." Du Guochang told a reporter from Chinanews.com that the strong wind lasted for about two minutes, and then gradually weakened. All of the workers desperately arrived at the door of the house and escaped after the wind stopped completely.

  At 20-21 o'clock on the 14th, Wuhan encountered strong convective weather. A gale engulfed and thunderstorm swept across the Xishan area of ​​Caidian District and the Junshan area of ​​Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone. Among them, strong winds of magnitude 12 or more appeared in the disaster-stricken center area, and some tornadoes were characteristic.

  According to the latest report from the Information Office of the Wuhan Municipal People's Government on the afternoon of the 15th, as of 12:00 on the same day, the on-site search and rescue work was basically over.

Current statistics show that a total of 8 people were killed, 230 people were injured, 3568 people were affected, 1197 people were relocated in emergency, 86 houses in 28 collapsed houses, and 400 houses in 130 houses were seriously damaged.

The affected workers were placed in nearby hotels.

Zhang Changshe

  Du Guochang and his wife Liu Zhen'e work at a construction site near Caidian Qianzishan Avenue.

Du Guochang introduced that due to the rain that night, the workers returned to the residential area early. At the time of the incident, his wife and several female workers were washing in the bathroom, and he and his workers were staying on the second floor of the dormitory built in a mobile board room.

  Liu Zhen'e recalled that when everyone was ready to go back to the dormitory after washing up, they only heard the noise outside the house. The inside and outside of the house were instantly dark. Everyone stood in a row and supported the door of the house. After about 20 minutes, the wind decreased and they were dressed in pajamas. The female workers ran out in a hurry, and one of the two rows of dormitory buildings in front of them had been dumped, and the surroundings were in chaos.

  The person in charge of the project department summoned the workers to leave the incident area and arranged to count the number of people. At about 11 o'clock that night, dozens of workers were temporarily placed in a nearby hotel and did not return to the dormitory to count their personal belongings until the morning of the 15th.

  "I only heard of tornadoes in the coastal areas before, but I didn't expect to meet them in Wuhan." At noon on the 15th, the reporter met Hu Chunting, a coworker of Du Guochang and his wife, at a business hotel on Baihequan East Street in Caidian District.

As she packed her clothes, she said, "I was so frightened that I rushed out and shouted the names of my husband and other workers. Fortunately, everyone was fine."

  At lunchtime, the hotel staff delivered the meals and hot soup to each room in batches. Mr. Luo, 28, told a reporter from Chinanews.com, “Thanks to the canopy bed in the dormitory that supports some activity space, I can Climbed out of the collapsed board house."

The affected workers were placed in nearby hotels.

Zhang Changshe

  After the accident, the injured were rushed to the Sino-French New City campus of Tongji Hospital nearby, the West Hospital of Wuhan Union Medical College Hospital, and Caidian District People's Hospital for treatment.

The reporter met Li Shengqing, who was working at the construction site of Guanlianhu Road, Junshan Street, Wuhan Development Zone, in the emergency department of the West Hospital of Union Hospital.

  According to Li Shengqing, the two-story prefabricated house on his construction site collapsed instantly when the strong wind came.

After crawling out in the dark, Li Shengqing hugged an angle iron around him tightly, and when the wind stopped, he pulled out more than 10 workers from under the steel plate.

  "The wind came too suddenly, there was no time to react." Li Shengqing said that many people ran out wearing shorts at the time of the incident. Workers who were slightly injured were sent to the hospital that night, and they and a few slightly injured came over for examination today.

  It is reported that in response to the disaster caused by this round of strong convective weather, Wuhan has set up 6 special work teams to carry out on-site rescue, and mobilized the city's strongest medical force to do a good job of treating the wounded regardless of the cost.

(Finish)