Bad weather hits Spring Festival travel

Source: CCTV.com | 01-29-2008 08:47

Heavy snowfall continues to cause transportation chaos across much of China. Now forecasters have issued a red alert -- the highest on the scale. Forecasters say there is no end in sight to the disastrous weather.

The snow has been sweeping the central, eastern and southwestern parts of China since mid January. This has paralyzed air, rail, and highway traffic and left tens of thousands of passengers stranded during the pre-holiday travel peak.

About 500,000 passengers are stuck at South China's Guangzhou railway station after a power failure caused by snow and ice. Most of the passengers are migrant workers returning to their homes for the Spring Festival.

Almost 78 million people have been affected by the snow around the country.

Duan Yihong, deputy director of Central Meteorological Center, said, "We haven't had such disastrous weather for 50 years. The weather will be a little bit better in the most severely affected areas on Tuesday, but rain and snow are unlikely to stop."

Here at China Meteorological Administration, employees are holding a daily video conference to collect data from the disaster-hit provinces.

Forecasters say heavy snow will continue to blanket parts of the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Henan and Zhejiang as well as most areas of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.

A red alert, the most severe warning, was issued early on Monday forecasting severe snowstorms for the central and eastern parts of the country.

Duan Yihong said, "We have taken a series of measures to closely follow weather conditions and to publish accurate data. We will also increase the frequency of our weather forecast to update the public with the latest."

China Meteorological Administration has warned local governments and departments to prepare for more bad weather. It also suggests that residents in these areas should limit non-essential outdoor activities.

The bad weather comes at the worst possible time for China, as tens of millions of people are travelling by train, plane, and bus ahead of the Chinese New Year festivities. The harsh conditions are also a major test for emergency services in the disaster-hit areas.

Editor:Zhang Ning