Snowstorms cause havoc in China
Bad weather in China is continuing to cause havoc for millions of people as the country battles the heaviest snowstorms in 50 years.
Flights have been grounded and power plants have failed. The emergency services today struggled to control crowds of commuters trying to get to work.
The blizzards and ice storms have created a transport crisis, and forecasters have warned that conditions will get worse.
Snowstorms and freezing rain were predicted to hit central and eastern China, putting more pressure on already strained transport, communications and power networks.
The weather had affected 67 million people and the economic loss was 18.2bn yuan (1.27bn), the civil affairs ministry said.
More than 34cm of snow fell yesterday in Nanjing in the east, the city’s heaviest in 50 years, halting air and rail services. A third of flights in Beijing and Shanghai were delayed, throwing the national train service into chaos.
Military police kept order at a Beijing railway station today, where 400,000 passengers were stranded.
Hundreds of police and soldiers tried to control swelling crowds at a major train station in the southern city of Guangzhou, where about 200,000 travellers were stranded.
Police blew whistles and used loud hailers, while soldiers stood guard.
The crowd of mostly migrant factory workers filled the plaza in front of the station. They eventually spilled out on to a busy thoroughfare, which had to be closed to accommodate them.
Radio announcements urged people not to go to the station because most trains had been cancelled and tickets were not being sold until February 7, the start of Chinese New Year and the country’s biggest annual holiday.
The bad weather started two weeks ago, when sleet and snowstorms snapped the power lines of scores of electric passenger trains in Hunan province, a midpoint for the busy railway from Guangzhou to Beijing.
As many as 5% of China’s coal-fired power plants, which generate 78% of the country’s electricity, were shut because snow hampered coal shipments, the National Development and Reform Commission said.
Zhuzhou Smelter Group, China’s largest zinc refiner, said shortages had forced it to cut production.
Storms have also closed roads. Some 24 deaths have been reported since the heavy snow began on January 10, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Guangzhou rarely gets snow. Officials there were today trying to find temporary shelter for migrant workers in schools and convention centres.
