Northern Jiangsu Province in east China was hit by a slew of horrendous weather Tuesday night. Torrential rains, a hailstorm and a hurricane killed seven people, injured several hundred others and devastated four counties.

The affected areas were Shuyang, Siyang, Huai'an and Xuzhou, Shuyang County being the worst hit.

According to Sun Shujin, deputy head of Shuyang, 825,000 people in his county were affected by the disastrous weather. Some 223 were injured and five were killed. Direct economic losses were estimated at 1.2 billion yuan (US$145 million).

The hurricane toppled trees as it hammered through the county, destroying 194,487 houses and damaging key infrastructure such as power, telecommunications and transportation lines in most areas of the county, Sun added.

But key services have been restored thanks to the concerted efforts of several organizations, he said.

The Jiangsu provincial government has sent a team consisting of civil affairs officials to inspect the damage.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)