Heavy snow continued to fall over large parts of China on the
weekend, causing traffic chaos and damaging crops.
In Hubei, more than 1,000 km of highway, about
half of the central province's roads, were closed since Saturday.
More then 8,800 of the scheduled 9,500 long-distance coaches
originating from Wuhan, Hubei's capital, were cancelled, forcing
about 300,000 passengers to change travel plans.
This photo shows the
beautiful snow scene in a park Saturday in Wuhan, provincial
capital of the central province Hubei.
The heavy snow started on Friday and was recognized as the most
serious fall since 1991 by Wuhan Observatory. The low temperature
also burst water pipelines and froze hydrometers, causing a
drinking water shortage for 100,000 people, an unnamed official
with the water resources bureau of Wuhan said.
The snow also cut off all highways in the northern province of
Shanxi.
In the southern part of the province, snow on the ground reached
10 cm. "Roads were likely to freeze due to low temperature," said
Miao Aimei, a meteorologist with the Shanxi Meteorological Station.
He added the snow would last until Monday and have tremendous
influence on traffic and outdoor work.
The snow coincided with the peak student flow, said a Jiannan
coach station employee in Shanxi. "It brings great pressure to
Chunyun."
China started Chunyun, the Spring Festival transport season, on
Friday, five days ahead of schedule. It is a period when millions
of migrants and college students return home.
In eastern Anhui Province, heavy snow affected about 1.21
million people, causing direct economic loss of 210 million yuan
(29 million U.S. dollars), the provincial department of civil
affairs said Sunday.
This photo shows the
trapped vehicles on the highway in the region of Luowang, a
well-known ancient city in the central province Henan.
The snow started to hit the areas of Anqing, Lu'an, Hefei and
others on Jan. 12, affecting 1.21 million people and damaging
87,000 hectares of farmland. Total crop failure was 6,700 hectares,
according to a department official.
Yuexi County in the capital Hefei saw its biggest ever snowfall
with the maximum depth exceeding 50 cm. Traffic was blocked, while
power supply and telephone lines were cut off temporarily in some
towns and villages.
A total of 1,033 houses in the province were toppled by snow.
Initial estimates showed the snow had caused direct economic loss
of 210 million yuan, including 164 million yuan in the agricultural
sector.
Highways in the northern part of the province were closed since
Saturday. It was unknown when they would re-open.
Tibet Autonomous Region received good news
when a highway linking to the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was reopened
on Sunday evening after being closed for 80 hours because of the
snow.
Local government and armed police rescued 25 vehicles and 85
people stranded by snow on the more than 1,000 km section of the
highway in the Ngari Prefecture, including the 11-member team, sent
to save others and previously reported as getting stuck themselves
by the heavy snow on Friday.
With sufficient provisions and medicine, they are in good shape,
according to local sources.
Progress to save the 25 people trapped in five vehicles on a
highway in Zanda County was steady, said Hong Xuefeng, an official
with the Ngari Prefecture.
"As depth in some areas has reached three to five meters, the
clean-up work is moving at a speed of one or two km per hour," he
said, adding that the stranded was just seven km away from the
rescue team by 9 :50 p.m. Sunday and reported as in good
condition.
Snow began hitting the prefecture 4,500 meters above sea level
on Friday, with the maximum depth exceeding 30 cm. Traffic on the
Ngari section of the mountainous highway linking Xinjiang and Tibet
had been blocked since that day.
(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2008)
