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| Farmers work in the wind in Shatu Township in Heze City, east China's Shandong Province, March 20,2010.A severe sandstorm that plagued northwestern China in the past few weeks arrived in Beijing Friday night and affected some other areas. (Xinhua Photo) |
BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Government monitoring showed Saturday the sandstorm that has plagued much of northern China is likely to reach the Yangtze river basin and its south.
According to the Center for Desertification Monitoring under the State Administration of Forestry, the sandstorm is moving southward to Henan and Shandong Provinces and the increasingly strong wind could blow it even to south of the Yangtze River basin.
The sandstorm from northwestern China, packing strong winds and tons of sand, arrived in Beijing, Tianjin and other northern regions on Saturday morning, affecting an area of 810,000 square kilometers with a population of 250 million.
In the last 35 hours till 11 a.m. Saturday, 270 million people in an area of 1.8 million square kilometers have suffered from the sandstorm .
It is also expected to harm agricultural production and hamper traffic in its affected areas.
