Death toll from tornado rises to 98
Print Edition
EXTREME weather in Yancheng, a city in east China’s Jiangsu Province, has now killed 98 people, the local rescue headquarters said yesterday. Of 846 others injured, 200 are seriously hurt.
Intense downpours, hailstorms and a tornado battered parts of Yancheng’s Funing and Sheyang counties from Thursday afternoon, damaging two elementary schools, eight factory buildings and more than 8,600 houses.
Gales of up to 125 kilometers per hour were recorded in some Funing townships.
“The damage is terrible, I have not seen anything like this in years,” said Zhou Xiang, head of Jiangsu fire corps and director of the rescue headquarters.
“The sudden tornado caught people completely off guard, resulting in a large number of deaths,” he said, adding that most houses were not built to withstand powerful gales.
Teacher Guo Haimei said the ferocious wind, black with dust and debris, seemed to come out of nowhere onto her kindergarten and its 120 pupils.
Within minutes, the tornado and its accompanying rain and hailstorm had scythed through the area.
“I was very scared. I had no idea what was happening,” she said. “When I tried to close the door, my hand was injured by the wind pushing it back.”
Guo and her students, most of them just 6 years old, largely escaped unscathed. Although the school was heavily damaged, just seven children were injured, two of them seriously.
Zhou said that many deaths and injuries were caused by fallen power lines and pylons.
More than 1,300 police officers and 1,200 firefighters are taking part in the rescue mission and providing help to displaced residents.
At least 100 people have been pulled out of the rubble.
The storm destroyed a solar panel factory partly owned by GCL System Integration Technology Co Ltd.
“There are still hazardous chemicals, including ammonium gas and silane, at the factory. Currently, they have been contained and pose no risk to the public,” said Zhou.
Residents were using social media to offer help.
Xiang Shanfeng, a 31-year-old crane driver from Funing, posted his phone number on WeChat and offered to help the rescue team with his crane. He helped pull dozens of people out of the rubble yesterday.
President Xi Jinping, who was in Uzbekistan for a state visit and to attend a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, has ordered all-out rescue efforts and life-saving measures to be made a priority.
Authorities must make their utmost efforts to reduce casualties and facilitate resettlement of those affected by the extreme weather, he said. They must also strengthen meteorological monitoring and geological disaster assessment.
Premier Li Keqiang also ordered authorities to step up search and rescue work and medical treatment for the injured.
Yancheng has activated its highest response system following the extreme weather.
Over 500 base stations and 235 kilometers of cables were damaged, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It has sent emergency workers to repair telecommunication and power lines.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs has sent emergency supplies, including 1,000 tents, to the disaster area.
Tornados occasionally hit eastern and southern China in summer, but rarely result in the scale of damage seen in Yancheng. A similar disaster last hit the city in 1966.
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