Twister hurts 8 , damages thousands of homes in southern China

A tornado swirled though southern China before dawn Wednesday, injuring at least eight people and damaging or destroying more than 2,000 homes, officials said. The violent weather hit the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region about 5 a.m., China's official Xinhua news agency reported. In the Qixing District, six people were injured, at least one seriously, officials said. More than 20 houses were destroyed. Two people were reported injured in the surrounding Rong'an County. Five homes were destroyed and nearly 2,000 damaged. Extreme weather in Rong'an County has caused about $1 million in direct economic losses, the report said.