BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snow in China's central and eastern areas has led to expressway closures, flight cancellations and hoards of passengers swarming into railway stations.

    Snowstorms worsened the situation for the country's transportation system that is already running at peak levels with millions of people trying to return to their homes for the traditional Spring Festival.

This photo shows the trapped vehicles on the highway in the region of Luowang, a well-known ancient city in the central province Henan.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    A total of 1,200 passengers were stranded at Guangzhou's Baiyun airport on Saturday and Sunday. The number fell to 200 on Monday as flights to Changde of Hunan and Luoyang of Henan remained suspended.

    About 8,800 of the 9,500 long-distance coaches scheduled to depart central Chinese city of Wuhan have been cancelled, affecting 300,000 passengers.

    Blizzards cut off all the expressways in central China's Shanxi and Henan provinces and most expressways in eastern Jiangsu province.

    "People usually turn to railway transportation, which is less affected by bad weather, when there are expressway closures and flight cancellations and delays," said Ministry of Railway spokesman Wang Yongping.

Hundreds of vehicles were stranded at Taijiang section of Yuping-Kaili highway in southwest China's Guizhou Province due to the snow weather and low temperature Jan. 17, 2008. Some of the vehicles have been held up here for two days. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    On Saturday alone, railways across the country delivered 4.5 million passengers, up 44.5 percent from a year ago, according to the latest data from the ministry.

    "The number of railway passengers this year could be much larger than ever," Wang said.

    The ministry previously forecast that China's railways would carry a record 178.6 million passengers during the travel rush from Jan. 23 to March 2, up from 156 million last year.

    Accidents have happened. Leng Jing, a student from the Anhui Normal University, was killed after being falling off an overcrowded platform in a railway station in Wuhu, Anhui province.

    In Changsha, Hunan, more than 100 passengers holding tickets failed to board a packed train. The heads of both stations were sacked by Monday.

Citizens ride and walk on a snow-covered street of Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Jan. 18, 2008.   (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Meanwhile, a Beijing airport official said "a few" flights on Monday had been delayed because of snow, but gave no further details.

    The National Meteorological Center forecast that heavy snows and rains would continue to hit the central provinces of Henan and Hubei and eastern provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui in the next two days.

    The Ministry of Communications has issued an urgent notice, ordering local transport departments to be well prepared for further possible emergencies caused by the extreme weather.

China issues circular on disaster prevention

    BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Emergency Management Office of the State Council issued a circular Monday, calling for local governments and relevant central government departments to be alert on low-temperature and heavy snowfalls across the country.

   Since Jan. 12, most part of the country has experienced the severe temperature drop this winter and heavy snowfalls which caused traffic stoppages and heavy financial losses in some areas, according to the circular. Full story

Heavy snow wreaks havoc across China

    BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snow over large parts of China on Monday caused widespread traffic disruptions and left at least 15 people dead in weather-related accidents.

    Five people died in the collapse of buildings under the weight of the snow in central China's Hubei Province, which had its heaviest snow in 16 years, and another died in a building collapse in the eastern province of Anhui, where it has been snowing since Jan. 11.  Full story
 
Heavy snow continues to plague China

    BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- 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. Full story

Heavy snow affects 1.2 million people in E China

    HEFEI, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snow has affected the lives of1.21 million people in east China's Anhui Province, causing a direct economic loss of 210 million yuan (29 million U.S. dollars),the provincial department of civil affairs said here on Sunday.

    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. Full story

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