Powerful Tornado Strikes East China; 78 Reportedly Dead

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

A powerful tornado and hailstorm struck the outskirts of an eastern Chinese city on Thursday, killing at least 78 people and destroying buildings, smashing trees and flipping vehicles on their roofs.

The tornado hit a densely populated area of farms and factories near the city of Yancheng in Jiangsu province, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of Beijing.

Nearly 500 of people were injured, 200 of them critically, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Roads were blocked with trees, downed power lines and other debris, while heavy rain and the possibility of further hailstorms and even more tornados was complicating rescue efforts, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The disaster has been declared a national-level emergency, and on a trip to Uzbekistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered central government bodies to provide all necessary assistance.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-state-media-51-killed-tornado-eastern-province-40070388

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By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING — Jun 23, 2016, 12:30 PM ET

[uppityperson]

1. k&r for people in other parts of the world. We don't need to be hurting each other, things

are hard enough already

[Feeling the Bern]

2. Yancheng means "Salt Flats" in Chinese. It is a city in the northern most part of Jiangsu

The province in which I live. The fact that a tornado hit an area that pretty much has a constant temperature with no extremes tells me we're getting closer to an environment point of no return.

The death toll will climb and most died because China builds up, not out, as well as no really building storm shelters since that part of Jiangsu rarely, if ever, gets extreme weather.