| Snow hit many parts of north China Wednesday, causing deadly traffic accidents and highway closures and leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded at major airports.
Heavy snow blanketed Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, for a second day and paralyzed all transport, including aviation and highway services, provincial authorities said Wednesday.
Meteorological officials said the city recorded 7.44 cm of precipitation in the 24 hours till 6 a.m. Wednesday, with the accumulated snow 48 cm thick in most areas.
It was the heaviest snowfall in the city since 1955 when the city began to make meteorological records.
There was little traffic on roads in the city, and pedestrians struggled through knee-high snow. The Education Department of the city government issued a notice Tuesday night, asking all middle and primary schools in the city to suspend classes on Wednesday.
A total of 24 flights were canceled, 21 were delayed and only three flights arrived at the Shijiazhuang Airport as of Wednesday evening. The CZ6953 flight to Urumqi in northwestern China took off at 4:29 p.m., the first outgoing flight since the snowfall on Tuesday.
The local sections of six expressways traversing the city, including the Beijing-Shijiazhuang, Zhangjiakou-Shijiazhuang, Shijiazhuang-Huanghua, and Qingdao-Yinchuan expressways, were closed, said transport authorities.
One person was killed, 68 vegetable greenhouses collapsed and more than 20 wares and factory buildings fell down due to the snow in Shijiazhuang, according to a government press conference on Wednesday.
Light snow is continuing and heavier snow is expected late Wednesday, according to meteorologists. Snow was not so heavy in other parts of Hebei, they said.
Snow also hit Beijing and Tianjin cities, Shanxi Province and Ningxia and Xinjiang autonomous regions Tuesday.
Shanxi meteorological bureau said that from 8 a.m. Monday to 2 p.m. Tuesday, 10 mm of precipitation on average fell on 32 out of about 80 counties of the northern province.
Congestion was reported on roads in Datong, Shuozhou, Yangquan, Jinzhong and Changzhi, stranding nearly 30,000 passengers, traffic police said.
More than 16,000 traffic police officers were sent on highways to ease the congestion and supply food and water to the passengers, said Wang Wenxi, an official with the Shanxi Provincial Public Security Department.
Vehicles stranded on the highway from Jiuguan Village to Taiyuan reduced from more than 2,000 to 900 Wednesday. Most of the passengers have been accomodated in counties nearby, police said. No casualties have been reported.
Aviation officials said 116 flights to and from Taiyuan, the provincial capital, were canceled and more than 12,000 passengers were stranded Tuesday.
Flights resumed at 9 a.m. Wednesday after five snow blowing machines cleared the runways. Flight HU7335 to Guilin City in south China took off at 11:18 a.m., the first outgoing flight from the airport in 25 and a half hours. Flight HU7669 from Sanya City landed at the airport at 10:30 a.m., the first incoming flight since the airport closure.
Snow has fallen again since noon and the airport was still in normal operation as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to the airport command center.
The Taiyuan Municipal Education Bureau issued a notice Wednesday afternoon, asking all the schools and kindergartens in the city to suspend classes on Thursday and Friday as heavy snow is still hitting the city.
The snow drove most of the long-distance passengers to the railway station in Taiyuan. A record 160,000 passengers were expected to travel Wednesday on services operated by Taiyuan Railway Bureau, which mainly manages services in Hebei and Shanxi provinces.
In Ningxia, traffic police said Wednesday at least two people were confirmed dead and 37 were injured in 155 reported road accidents caused by the snow Tuesday.
Northwest China's Shaanxi Province met the first snow this winter Wednesday morning as temperature dropped 12 degrees Celsius.
The Xianyang International Airport was closed at 8:30 p.m., the second time within a day, stranding more than 7,000 passengers. It was closed at 7 a.m. and resumed operation four hours later.
In central China's Henan Province, all the highways were still closed as of 5 p.m. Wednesday after heavy snow hit the province since Tuesday night.
The National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued an orange alert against snow Wednesday, forecasting heavy snow in north, central and east China from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday noon.
Under the orange alert, departments of railway, communication, electricity and transportation should strengthen the maintenance of the roads, railways and power lines and people are suggested to reduce their outdoor activities.
Heavy snow would affect central Shaanxi province, central and southern Shanxi province, central and southern Hebei province, northwestern Henan province, northwestern Hubei province and northwestern Shandong province due to the combined effect of cold and warm air.
NMC forecasts snowstorms in central Shaanxi province, southern Shanxi province, southern Hebei province and northern Henan province with an average precipitation of 8 mm to 16 mm. In some places, the amount could reach 20 mm.
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