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DesertSpider
Post Boaster
Joined: Jan 19, 2007
Posts: 4725
Location: SHANGHAI, CHINA
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 Posted:
Jan 28, 2008 - 02:08 PM |
 
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| Post subject: Snow, sleet, rain - Oh My !!! Shut It Down. |
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,325878,00.html
BEIJING — Power cuts blamed on ice and unusually heavy snow stranded about 150,000 vacationers in the key southern Chinese rail hub city of Guangzhou, state media reported.
At the advent of China's peak Lunar New Year travel season, the number of travelers arriving in Guangzhou was expected to rise Monday to 600,000 and local authorities scrambled to arrange temporary shelters at schools and other public buildings, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Tens of millions of Chinese were expected to travel for the New Year holiday.
About 100,000 people spent Saturday night sleeping in the station's yard in a steady drizzle, Xinhua said.
The rail backups were compounded by a slowdown in bus travel after thick sheets of ice forced the closure of several highways. Snow delayed numerous flights out of Shanghai.
Most of the delays were blamed on power cuts that stalled 136 electric passenger trains on the tracks in Hunan province between Beijing and Guangzhou, Xinhua said.
Hunan and many parts of central China have been hit in recent days by freakishly cold weather, icy rain and snow that has accumulated on power lines, causing some of the them to snap.
Some areas have received their heaviest snowfalls in over a decade. More bad weather is forecast for the coming days.
The railway authority sent in about 22,000 pounds of rice, vegetables, meat, and edible oil, as well as 20,000 boxes of instant noodles and drinking water for those stuck aboard trains, Xinhua said.
About 100 diesel locomotives were being dispatched to move the trains along and additional trains have been sent to pick up stranded passengers, the agency said. |
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DesertSpider
Post Boaster
Joined: Jan 19, 2007
Posts: 4725
Location: SHANGHAI, CHINA
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Jan 28, 2008 - 06:44 PM |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080128/ts_nm/china_weather_dc
China counts cost of snowy winter chaos
By Chris Buckley and Ben Blanchard 2 hours, 1 minute ago
BEIJING (Reuters) - Wild winter weather across China left hundreds of thousands of people stranded on Monday and crippled energy and transport, stoking fears of rising deaths and economic damage blighting the biggest holiday of the year.
By late Sunday, 21 people had died in accidents due to the freezing weather, according to state media, while highways, railways and airports have been paralyzed, especially in the east.
Heavy snow and sleet have hit central, eastern and southern China, regions used to milder winters.
The snow struck as tens of millions of Chinese head home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, starting on February 7 this year, straining trains and planes even in normal times.
At the main rail station in Guangzhou in the relatively warm commercial far south, 170,000 people crammed together waiting for trains that cannot leave because of electric trains stranded downline, Xinhua news agency reported.
By the end of Monday, a backlog of 600,000 waiting for trains from the city was expected. Television showed green-uniformed anti-riot troops ready to keep order around the station.
The China Meteorological Administration said the cold snap showed no signs of lifting and issued a "red alert" warning of snow storms in some central and eastern areas, including around Shanghai, the nation's commercial hub.
"Cut unnecessary outdoors activities," urged the notice on the central forecast Web site (www.nmc.gov.cn).
Traffic at dozens of regional airports has been reduced to a snail's pace or stopped completely. About half the country's 31 provinces are enduring power brownouts as coal shipment delays add to strains.
Cargo ships docked at Shanghai's Baoshan Port were delayed by snow that has hampered operations.
PRICE OF WILD WEATHER
Already the country is guessing the economic cost. China's main stock index sagged as traders worried about the price tag of the wild weather on top of global economic woes.
"This year's snow is really very extraordinary, and investors are now beginning to worry about the possible impact on the overall economy," said an analyst at Shanghai Securities.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs, which handles disaster relief, estimated direct economic losses so far at 15.3 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), according to state television.
Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday the weather was threatening lives and disrupting supplies of fresh food, coal, oil and electricity ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. He promised action to ensure public safety and power.
But residents in central and southwest China are already complaining of shortages of fresh foods and rocketing prices for rice, vegetables and eggs.
"A lot of transport has stopped, so vegetables and what have you can't be brought in," Xu Jinyun, a resident of Lujiang in snow-bound Anhui province in east China told Reuters.
The sight of swathes of China struggling with brownouts, food price hikes and business shutdowns has also led some to blame government tardiness and inefficiency as well as the cold.
"This crisis coming with the Spring Festival mass movement comes shrouded in bureaucratic details as well in nature's storms and snow," said a commentator in the Beijing News.
The Ministry of Railways has sent about 100 diesel locomotives to move the stranded electric trains and ordered 63 trains to bypass a paralyzed section of the key Beijing-Guangzhou line.
The government has not announced deaths due to freezing in homes. But homes south of the Yangtze River generally do not receive central heating and are not built for such icy weather.
(Additional reporting by George Chen; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Fox) |
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CoffeeHawk_0
Board Deity
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 19090
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Jan 28, 2008 - 07:39 PM |
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FYI - the Shanghai Authority will announce tomorrow morning they want a city wide, partial shut down. Schools, government offices, some highways, etc. will be shut down. If so, many businesses will follow suit and not require workers to show up. All of this will be announced in Chinese on Chinese media  If you only see laowai on the roads and subway tomorrow morning, know you may be the only one in the office! |
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freedelia
LoopKicker
Joined: Nov 27, 2006
Posts: 949
Status: Offline
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Jan 28, 2008 - 11:12 PM |
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Yep, confirmed, no school for my kids tomorrow..what a wonderful day that will be having 2 bored kids at home the whole day... |
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findus
Fire-eater
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 2859
Status: Offline
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Jan 28, 2008 - 11:58 PM |
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| freedelia wrote: |
| Yep, confirmed, no school for my kids tomorrow..what a wonderful day that will be having 2 bored kids at home the whole day... |
?!?!?!?!!!?!?!?!?
Send them outside to play in the snow!  |
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freedelia
LoopKicker
Joined: Nov 27, 2006
Posts: 949
Status: Offline
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Jan 29, 2008 - 12:23 AM |
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NO thank you -- i can think of something worse than spending a day in the house with 2 bored kids -- flying for 14 hours with 2 sick kids |
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