The deadly tornado that struck Yancheng, Jiangsu province, on Thursday has hit elderly people in the area especially hard.

The tornado, the worst to hit the province, had left 99 people dead and more than 744 hospitalized as of Sunday, with 20 critically injured, Wu Xiaodan, the deputy mayor of Yancheng, told a news conference on Sunday.

Senior residents in the county bore the brunt of the disaster, with at least 70 percent of those killed being age 60 or above.