Photo taken on June 23, 2016 shows a tornado-damaged power pole in Funing County, Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo: Xinhua/Yang Ya)
At least 78 people died and 500 were injured in one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit east China's Jiangsu Province in decades Thursday.
Downpours, hailstorms and the worst tornado since 1966 battered parts of Yancheng City at 2:30 p.m., destroying homes and trapping hundreds of villagers in the rubble.
More deaths are feared, as search and rescue continued into Friday.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs said 200 people were injured critically.
Extreme weather was reported in several townships in Funing and Sheyang counties in the suburbs of Yancheng.
Gales of 125 km per hour battered several outer townships of Funing County, while in Sheyang, the winds reached 100 km per hour.
Many houses collapsed in the gales. Villages were leveled. Trees and utility poles were uprooted, and motor vehicles were blown away.
A 40,000-square-meter workshop of a joint venture solar energy company also toppled.
Some areas reported blackouts and communication disruptions.
"I tried at least 20 times to call my grandmother at home, and fortunately, she was safe," said Zang Shoucheng, a news reporter in Nanjing, the provincial capital.
"Grandma said she was on her way to the cropland [when the tornado hit], but the gales were so strong she had to lie down on her belly to avoid being swept away," said Zang.
Xie Litian, 62, felt it was like "the end of the world".
"I heard the gales and ran upstairs to shut the windows," said Xie, from Donggou township of Funing County. "I had hardly reached the top of the stairs when I heard a boom and saw the entire wall with the windows on it torn away."
As he ran downstairs, the roof collapsed. "I crouched in a corner of the ground floor for at least 20 minutes, afraid to move."
When the gales subsided and Xie escaped, all the other houses in the neighborhood were gone.
Xie said he saw utility poles uprooted and his tractors were blown away. "I was drowned in my own sorrow, until I heard moans for help from a neighbor buried in the debris of her home."
