Authorities say 141 factory buildings were damaged but no residential houses collapsed.

At least five people were killed and 33 others injured on Saturday in a tornado that struck the city of Guangzhou in southern China, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing local authorities.

The tornado hit the city’s Baiyun district on Saturday afternoon, Xinhua said, adding that 141 factory buildings were damaged but no residential houses had collapsed. It said a preliminary assessment put the tornado at level-three intensity, two below the highest level of five.

All the injured persons were promptly sent to the hospital for treatment, a statement released by Baiyun district government on Saturday night said.

Rescuers from the city’s emergency management, weather, fire, waterworks, and health departments, as well as local residents, were sent to the area, it said, adding that search and rescue work was completed there.

Southern Power Grid sent more than 300 emergency repair personnel, 45 vehicles, five equipped with laser cleaning devices, and four sets of large lighting equipment to help repair the damaged electrical equipment.

Guangzhou, a city of 19 million people located about 130km (80 miles) from Hong Kong, is the capital city of Guangdong province.

A weather station in Liangtian Village, Baiyun District, about 1.7 miles from where the tornado hit, registered a maximum wind gust of 20.6 metres per second, Xinhua reported.

The tornado comes after multiple days of heavy rains that have lashed southern China, unleashing deadly floods and threatening to upend the lives of tens of millions of people as rescuers rush to evacuate residents trapped by rising waters.

Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse home to 127 million people, has seen widespread flooding that has forced more than 110,000 people to be evacuated, state media reported, citing the local government.

State media reported earlier this week that at least four people had been killed by floods in Guangdong.

Since April 16, sustained torrential rains have pounded the Pearl River Delta, China’s manufacturing heartland and one of the country’s most populated regions, with four weather stations in Guangdong registering record rainfall for April.

The Pearl River basin witnesses annual flooding from April to September, but the region has faced more intense rainstorms and severe floods in recent years as scientists warn that the climate crisis will amplify extreme weather, making it deadlier and more frequent.

Last year, China’s Jiangsu was hit by a violent tornado that killed 10 people after torrential rain lashed the country’s southeast, causing massive evacuations and landslides in the wake of unrelenting storms brought on by the remnants of Typhoon Haikui.