Violent storms kill seven people in eastern China

Violent rain and hailstorms have killed seven people in eastern China’s Jiangxi province this week, including three people who fell from their apartments in a high-rise building.

Dozens of homes were severely damaged by the storms, which started Sunday, and more than 800 people have been resettled, state broadcaster CCTV said yesterday, citing a Jiangxi government emergency agency.

Four people died on Sunday in Nanchang, the provincial capital. It wasn’t clear from the report when or where the other three died, but another violent storm on Tuesday left people trapped in a collapsed house in the same city. Eleven people were hospitalized, according to an earlier CCTV report.

The first storm blew out floor-to-ceiling windows in a Nanchang apartment building, killing three in the middle of the night. A grandmother and her 11-year-old grandson fell to their deaths from the 20th floor, as did a 60-year-old woman from the 11th floor, according to Chinese media reports.

Authorities are investigating how the three people fell. Media reports suggested they may have been blown out by extremely strong winds. A resident on the 20th floor of the building told online outlet Jimu News that her family had to hold on to avoid being blown away, and that they were so frightened that they stayed up all night.

The storms also damaged 5,700 hectares of crops in Jiangxi province, CCTV said. MDT/AP