On the 8th floor, Ms. Tao's shoulder was injured by a falling flower pot. All pictures in this article were taken by reporter Zou Yu.
In today's news (reported by Zou Yu and intern Wang Longbo), even though it has been an entire day, Ms. Tao's shoulder is still swollen. She pointed to her six-year-old little daughter and said that fortunately, the child wasn't nearby at the time; otherwise, she really doesn't want to imagine the consequences.
Ms. Tao and her husband run a vegetable stall on Linhua Road in Yuzhong District. The afternoon before yesterday, a bunch of flower pots and debris fell from the sky, injuring Ms. Tao who was doing business at the time, and also overturning their small stall.
It seemed like things kept falling
In the middle section of Linhua Road in Yuzhong District, there is a market that has existed for many years.
Ms. Tao and her husband have a stall inside. Behind their stall is a unit apartment building built by a nearby bank in 1996.
For over a decade, they have relied on this small stall to support their family. Recently, Ms. Tao and her husband had been planning how, with the start of school, their daughter would be entering the first grade, and they wanted to work hard so they could buy her some school supplies when she starts school.
At 4:30 PM the day before yesterday, the weather was still very hot, and not many people were coming to buy vegetables. Ms. Tao was tidying up the vegetables on her stall.
Gradually, she felt as if wood shavings were continuously falling from the sky, and later, more and more, accompanied by some sounds.
"At first, things started falling slowly, with sounds, which startled me, and it felt like an earthquake," said a lady who usually sets up her stall opposite Ms. Tao.
When Ms. Tao was still puzzled, suddenly there was a "boom", and Ms. Tao saw blackness in front of her eyes.
The vegetable stall collapsed, and her shoulder was also hit.
"Goodness, what are all these things?" When Ms. Tao opened her eyes again, she suddenly found that there was a large pile of debris in front of her:
There was a big wooden basket, many thick wooden planks, and even several flower pots filled with soil. The flower pots were shattered into pieces, and some fragments had even been bounced to the other side of the road.
"That's quite a heap of stuff! It's as if a small warehouse fell down," Mr. Deng, who was at the scene at the time, described it to us this way.
Ms. Tao's freshly organized vegetable stall was completely overturned, and tomatoes and cucumbers and other vegetables were scattered everywhere.
The colorful fabric used to shade the sun had also been deformed long ago.
At this moment, Ms. Tao felt excruciating pain in her shoulder. She tried, but her left arm couldn't lift up.
Ms. Tao remembered that when she instinctively dodged, the wooden basket and flower pots firmly hit her shoulder.
Ms. Tao quickly went to the nearby Zhongshan Hospital with her husband, Hexun Blog.
By the time we arrived at the hospital last night, Ms. Tao had already been discharged. The doctor said that although no bones were broken, the injury was still quite severe.
Most of the awnings upstairs were in disrepair
Yesterday, when we looked up from the position of Ms. Tao's vegetable stall, the 8th-floor balcony was empty, leaving only railings. This contrasts sharply with the surrounding residents' balconies, most of which have awnings.
Mr. Deng said that the pile of debris was originally on the awning of the 8th-floor balcony. When the awning collapsed, the things fell down.
"The awning has been in use for too long, almost since the house was first occupied," Mr. Deng said. For over a decade, the awning has never been replaced, and now it can't withstand anything.
He also reminded us to take a look at the other awnings, most of which are already in disrepair. With just a little wind, they start to sway.
The resident of the 8th floor paid the medical expenses
Ms. Tao believed that the aging of the awning was one reason, and another reason was that the homeowner knew the awning was old but still piled so much stuff on it. The awning itself was already swaying in the wind, yet it was being overloaded. Isn't this just asking for trouble?
After mediation by the neighborhood committee, the resident of the 8th floor paid Ms. Tao's medical expenses.
But Ms. Tao thought that fortunately, there weren't many pedestrians at the time; otherwise, the consequences would have been very serious. This time, only she herself was hit. These precarious awnings nearby could cause accidents at any time. If no measures are taken, perhaps more people will be hurt.