Hazardous chemicals cleared in tornado-battered China county

All the hazardous chemicals were cleared Sunday from a solar panel factory that was destroyed by the worst tornado and hailstorm to hit east China's Jiangsu Province in decades.

As of 7:30 p.m., all the chemicals, including ammonium gas, silane, phosphorus oxychloride and trimethylaluminum, were removed the factory in Funing County in the city of Yancheng.

A 40,000-square-meter workshop of the factory, partly owned by GCL System Integration Technology Co. Ltd., was destroyed when a powerful tornado and hailstorm battered Yancheng on Thursday.

Two hundred firemen were posted to the factory, where 15 categories of hazardous chemicals were stored, said Zhou Xiang, head of the provincial fire prevention headquarters. "They closed all the valves, checked the pipelines and capped the leaks."

Suppliers were called in Saturday to remove the canned chemicals, said Zhou.

The most volatile of the chemicals, silane and trimethylaluminum, were cleared on Sunday, he said.

Reconstruction of the factory facilities will begin Monday.

The city government of Yancheng said Sunday 1,591 homeless victims were staying in temporary shelters in two counties, and workers were rushing to repair electricity, water and telecommunications facilities.

The extreme weather has killed 99 people and injured 846.

(APD)