Severe weather damaged electricity substations and transmission lines that carry power from Hunan and Guizhou provinces to Guangdong.

In the first six months alone, Hunan and Guizhou provinces and power stations in the Three Gorge areas are expected to cut electricity supplies to Guangdong by more than 6.3 million kWh, due to damaged transmission facilities, Li said.

By the end of this month, Guangdong will have sent almost 29,000 engineers and support workers, 2,700 trucks and 1,500 soldiers to disaster-stricken areas to help repair electricity substations and other facilities, he said.

Li said that the electricity supply from southwestern China to Guangdong will not resume in the first half of this year.

(China Daily February 29, 2008)