Beijing: Weather in China was at its most destructive mode on Thursday when a fierce tornado and hailstorm struck Jiangsu province and left 99 dead and 846 injured.
Turned out to be the deadliest tornado since 1966, it was accompanied by strong and gusty winds, heavy rains and hailstorms which pummeled the farmland and factories in Yancheng City, Jiangsu, toppling houses, damaging wire poles and destroying a solar panel factory where hazardous chemicals had been stored.
In a press release, the city government said 1,591 homeless victims were accommodated in temporary shelters in two counties and rescuers are rushing to repair electricity, water and telecommunication facilities.
Winds of up to 125 kms per hour first swept through several rural communities of Funing and Sheyang counties on the outskirts of Yangcheng.
The main matter of concern now is to avoid the leaks of chemical, some of them toxic such as sulphuric and nitric acids, ammonia, hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen fluoride that were in the solar panels warehouse.
Zheng Yongguang with the China Meteorological Administration confirmed that an EF-4 tornado with a wind speed of 73 meters/second was responsible for the damage, citing radar data and their on-site investigation.
EF-4 is the second strongest rating for tornados.
Of the injured, 107 had been discharged from hospitals and 152 have sustained serious injuries, said Wu Xiaodan, vice mayor of Yancheng City.
