Tornado tears through Chinese city of Kaiyuan killing 6 and affecting 9,000

At least 6 people died and 190 were injured after a tornado ripped through Kaiyuan, in northeastern China, on Wednesday, according to state media outlet Xinhua.

The tornado hit at around 5:15pm local time and tore through the city in just 15 minutes.

That was enough time to destroy about 250 acres of crops and damage more than 4,300 homes, shattering windows and bringing down walls, according to local authorities and state media.

A local resident walks through debris of residential buildings damaged by strong winds, after the tornado.

On Thursday, more than 800 rescue workers were racing to find those trapped among the rubble, according to local authorities.

About 210 people have been rescued from damaged buildings and over 1,600 have been evacuated from the city, while 63 people were hospitalized, according to the local government.

Local authorities have set up four temporary shelters for those affected.

Residents pass by an overturned car in the aftermath of the tornado.

The tornado tore bricks off roofs and shattered windows.

While China receives about 10 to 100 tornadoes a year, severe tornadoes are a rarity, according to CNN meteorologists. In 2017, a tornado hit Yunnan Province in southwestern China – the first time a tornado there had been documented in over 30 years.

Thousands of homes have been damaged by the tornado in Kaiyuan City.

A tornado sweeps through residential buildings and streets in Kaiyuan city.

One of the deadliest tornadoes in recent Chinese history hit Jiangsu Province in 2016, leaving at least 98 dead and 800 injured.