A worker hoses snow off a
plane at Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport yesterday.
Braving snow and wind, pedestrians trudge on
a road in the city's Jiading District yesterday.
Planes, trains, automobiles, power and food supples, medical
emergencies, collapsed buildings and frustrated would-be
holiday-makers ... Shanghai's biggest snow in 24 years is making an
unforgettable and expensive impression.
There has already been one death after three days of snow and a
heavy fall hit the city as Shanghai Daily went to press early this
morning.
Most of the flights in and out of Pudong International Airport
were delayed yesterday. Many domestic flights at Hongqiao Airport
were also delayed or canceled.
It was all hands on deck as airport staff applied the hoses,
brooms and shovels in a bid to clear the snow.
Thirteen buildings had caved in across the city up until last
night. The single fatality occurred when a house collapsed in
Jiading District.
Long-distance bus travel is at a standstill as major expressways
out of Shanghai have been closed for safety reasons, stranding
thousands of people trying to make it home for Spring Festival
holidays, which officially begin on February 7.
Many turned to trains as a second choice but found no joy there
either, with services canceled as at least 14 provinces - and rail
lines - are blanketed in snow under blizzard conditions.
The city rail authority has stopped selling tickets for points
both north and south.
And while the three-day fall is definitely the heaviest since
1984, city weather officials believe if it continues, the snow
could be the biggest in the city since record-keeping began.
Shipping at the mouth of the Yangtze River has also been
affected, with almost 100 vessels stranded.
Shanghai's power, gas and water supplies are under siege, with
burst pipes, overload from air-conditioners and heaters and river
coal supplies for electricity held up.
The Shanghai Medical Emergency Center has received 700 calls for
ambulances each day since late last week.
Hospitals reported a huge increase in admissions. "The number of
patients we saw injured after falls tripled ... we treated 40 for
fractures, most of them young people going to work,'' said Dr Pan
Shuming, of Xinhua Hospital's emergency department.
Even the post office is finding it hard to cope, with major
delivery delays.
And just to add insult to injury, food prices are soaring.
(Shanghai Daily January 29, 2008)
