Two girls sleep at a temporary settlement in a primary school of Shuoji town, Funing county in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, on June 24, 2016. (Photo/Xinhua)
Place: Yancheng, East China's Jiangsu province
What you need to know about Jiangsu's deadly tornado
Time: 2:30 pm, Thursday, June 23, 2016
Casualties: 98 killed and about 800 injured
Rescue efforts:
Search for the people through the debris has been completed, cleaning efforts are underway.
More than 1,300 police officers have been called in to assist with the rescue efforts and displaced residents.
The city has activated its highest response system following the extreme weather.
Why it caused such huge casualties
The tornado has been scaled at EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which indicates its wind speed will reach between 218 kilometers to 266 kilometers per hour, the state broadcaster China Central Television reported.
The Enhanced Fujita scale has six scales from EF0 to EF5.
Yancheng city government said that the tornado on Thursday was the second strongest one that has ever struck the city, just weaker than the one on March 3, 1966.
The tornado struck densely populated areas, along with gales, rainstorms and hailstorms, to cause the huge casualties in the eastern city of Yancheng, Jiangsu province on Thursday, according to media reports and experts.
