A worker bulldozes snow on a highway in
Gongshan, Yunnan Province, yesterday. The snow has cut power and
traffic to four of Gongshan's five townships.
Most parts of China are in dire need of power amid severe
disruptions caused by the prolonged snow, rain and cold
weather.
Seventeen provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have
suffered blackouts, and power grids in central China's Hubei and
Hunan provinces and south China's Guizhou and Guangdong provinces
had been seriously damaged.
More than 30 million people have been affected by the power
shortage, which is blacking out provinces including the populous
eastern Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, according to China's Ministry
of Civil Affairs.
In the southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, villagers
turned to coal oil for lighting.
"I bought 200 kilograms of coal oil from the county yesterday
and so far more than 30 kilograms has been sold," said Tang Libing,
a retailer who lives in Baibao village.
Candles, charcoal and coalballs have also made a comeback in
Guangxi villages.
In Guizhou, 12 cities and counties were still in the dark with
another 19 having only partial power supplies. A total of 472 power
substations ceased operation and 12 electric rail lines were
affected in the province.
In Guangdong, workers are busy fixing the power grid where more
than 4,150 power lines were hit by snow. "We will do our best to
ensure the power supply during the Spring Festival," said Yuan
Maozhen, board chairman of the South China Power Grid Company.
Blocked roads and railways have also choked coal shipments. Most
power plants, which had just two days of coal left, resort to sea
routes for shipping in emergency coal supplies.
About 4.5 million tons of coal is expected to arrive at
Guangzhou ports on 125 cargo ships, some of which had canceled
international missions to assist in coal shipping from north to
south, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
However, it will still take 15 days for ships from Bohai Bay in
north China to reach Guangzhou. Ten cargo ships will arrive in the
next three days, the newspaper said.
"More cargo terminals will be opened to increase the capacity of
the port," said Chen Hongxian, board chairman of Guangzhou Port
Group.
Brutal storms have hit border regions in southwest China's
Yunnan Province, cutting off power, paralyzing traffic and
disabling communications.
Snow on Tuesday fell up to one meter deep in Gongshan area of
Yunnan, cutting off at least four towns.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2008)
