Video: Powerful tornado rips through buildings, tears power cables in China

In some of the videos, sparks were seen flying along with sudden flares as the twister tore through power lines. (Screengrab from video)

A powerful tornado hit the city of Foshan in the south China on Sunday. Videos of the the twister ripping through the city around 7.20 am local time has been doing rounds on social media.

A powerful tornado struck the Chinese city of Foshan.#China #breakingnews #breaking pic.twitter.com/NHI3oYaVbb

— Mateusz Sobieraj (@MateuszSobiera3) June 19, 2022

Another close vid shot from a nearby high rise shows how the Foshan tornado formed and hit a local factory this morning. pic.twitter.com/iQQ506bHhU

— Eric Wang (@Ericwang1101) June 19, 2022

A tornado touched down in Foshan, Guangdong province about 1 hour ago. pic.twitter.com/PrEjaqCJuP

— CyanideCN (@CyanideCN_) June 19, 2022

This is the second tornado to hit the country last week. Another tornado had hit the southern megacity of Guangzhou on June 16, displacing millions of people, damaging property and swamping farmland.

Another close range footage of the Guangzhou tornado, as far as we know, this tornado hit overhead, commercial buildings and did major damage to transmission of the subways. pic.twitter.com/g5yRNnox9P

— Eric Wang (@Ericwang1101) June 16, 2022

Authorities had issued warnings of "extreme weather events" as early as April, ahead of the rainy season that signals the seasonal transition from spring to summer in June.

China is historically prone to floods, triggering landslides and swamping many acres of farmland.

In recent times, the country has grown even more vulnerable, owing to deforestation, the reclamation of wetlands and the storage of water for power generation and irrigation.

(With input from Reuters)