Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment a woman inside a shopping centre is suddenly swept away by a huge torrent of water which comes crashing down from the building’s torn canvas roof.
The accident occurred amid heavy rains during Typhoon Bailu, which is the 11th storm to hit China this year.
Footage from Huixing Commercial Center in the town of Shilong, which is in Dongguan City in South China’s Guangdong Province, shows the woman and numerous others in the building at the time.
The video dated 25th August shows the woman covering her ears before the water crashes onto her head at 5:40pm local time.
The torrent sends her sliding several dozen feet across the second-floor corridor, where two other shoppers are also soaked head to toe in water.
In the video, the wave coming through the shopping centre’s atrium also lands on the first-floor, where a terrified parent scrambles to pluck his child off a kiddie ride.
Video Credit: AsiaWire
According to the shopping centre, the woman and a second shopper were injured during the accident, which is thought to have been a result of the waterlogged canvas breaking under the strain of constant downpour and the pooling of rainwater on the roof.
Images taken in the aftermath show Huixing Commercial Center’s roof having been torn open, with the woman covered in dry clothes while lying injured on the floor.
The shopping centre opened its doors to the public in 2016, together with its signature open courtyard, which is covered by large sheets of canvas.
A spokesperson said they were still unclear what exactly caused the roof to break, while inspectors from the Shilong Town Emergency Management Office have also been sent to investigate.
A shopkeeper who runs a business on the atrium’s ground floor said: “There was no warning at all. The huge hole was torn in the canvas and the water came crashing down.”
The injured victims were treated at Dongguan Third People’s Hospital and released the same day, reports said.
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