Tornado, hail storms kill at least 51 in China

A tornado and hail storms killed at least 51 people today in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, state media said.

The storms brought down power lines and houses, Xinhua news agency said.

"Downpours, hail storms and a tornado battered parts of Yancheng city ... causing many houses to topple," it said.

Pictures posted by media online showed injured people lying amid overturned houses and cars, split tree trunks and broken power lines.

Severe floods in southern China killed at least 22 people and left 20 missing earlier this week.