Channel NewsAsia 28 Jan 08;
BEIJING - China issued a severe weather warning Monday, fuelling fears of worsening power shortages, after the heaviest snowfalls in 50 years left hundreds of thousands stranded ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The warning of severe snowstorms came after Premier Wen Jiabao called late Sunday for "urgent" action to combat blackouts and transport chaos as millions of Chinese struggle to return home for the country's biggest annual holiday.
At least a dozen people died at the weekend in weather-related accidents, according to state media, with thousands more injured as they headed home for the holiday.
Wen ordered local governments to minimise the human impact, but focused his attention on the impact on China's energy situation, with several provinces already rationing electricity.
"Due to the rain, snow, and frost, plus increased winter use of coal and electricity and the peak travel season, the job of ensuring coal, electricity and oil supplies and adequate transportation has become quite severe," Wen said at a Cabinet meeting.
He ordered local governments to ensure smooth distribution and output of coal and electricity, and conserve energy.
"More heavy snow is expected. All (government) departments must prepare for this increasingly grim situation and urgently take action," Wen said, according to a Cabinet statement.
The China Meteorological Administration warned that further heavy snows or freezing rain are expected in nine provinces where freezing weather over the past two weeks has crippled transportation and caused a power supply crunch.
Icy conditions forced seven airports to shut at the weekend, and the southern city of Guangzhou has been particularly hard-hit.
State media said the number of people stuck at the city's train station could swell to 600,000 on Monday after a power failure Saturday night stranded more than 136 electric trains in neighbouring Hunan province.
Due to icy roads, long-distance bus travel was largely curtailed for much of the last week in the areas hardest hit by the snowfall.
State television showed footage of thousands of motorists and long-distance truck drivers stranded on stretches of road as heavy snow brought traffic to a standstill. - AFP/ir
Business Times - 30 Jan 2008
Wild weather hits business, farm heartland
Business Times 30 Jan 08;
Transport crippled, power cut in worst winter in 50 years
(SHANGHAI) Chaotic winter weather besieged China's business and farming heartland yesterday amid the country's worst power crisis, with one mountain-road accident blamed on snow killing 25 people ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays next week.
Icy temperatures, snow and sleet blanketing much of central, eastern and southern China have crippled thousands of trucks and trains loaded with coal, food and passengers in the most severe winter weather seen there in 50 years.
A bus plunged more than 40 metres from a snowy mountain road in the south-west province of Guizhou, Xinhua news agency said, the first known major accident caused by the freak weather.
Elsewhere, about 24 people have died in recent weather-caused accidents, including three workers killed while trying to fix iced-up power lines.
Premier Wen Jiabao visited stricken Hunan province in the south, Xinhua said. Mr Wen first flew to neighbouring Hubei province, because Hunan's main airport was iced-in.
The snow and biting cold across regions that usually have fairly temperate, snow-free winters were likely to stretch beyond yesterday, the national forecaster said on its website (www.nmc.gov.cn). Beijing remained cold but clear.
China warned residents of Shanghai and neighbouring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces - the country's commercial engine room - to stay indoors if possible. In Shanghai, some food shelves in shops emptied as people stocked up.
Analysts said the brutal weather was a short-term blow to the economy and would stoke inflation - it hit an 11-year high of 4.8 per cent last year - that already has the government worried.
'The short-term impact on the economy is big, with transport being disrupted, prices of agricultural products, in particular vegetables, rising,' said Jin Dehuan of the Shanghai Securities and Futures Institute with stock prices appearing to stabilise after huge losses on Monday.
Mr Jin said the weather chaos could jolt inflation higher in January but the broader impact would be limited.
Blocked roads and railways have also choked coal shipments, magnifying energy shortages that have brought electricity brown -outs to 17 of China's 31 provinces and province-status cities.
The country's worst power crisis has forced major industrial users like metal smelters to shut down and Beijing is urging small coal mines closed in a safety drive to restart production if they have been 'rectified'.
Fuel stockpiles at many plants have plunged to levels that cover just a few days of generation, but analysts say the power problem is caused as much by policy as weather.
Coal prices are rising but Beijing keeps a tight cap on power tariffs to fight inflation, so some plants unable to turn a profit have seized on the weather as an excuse to cut production and limit their losses.
Adding to energy woes, blocked roads and railways have disrupted fuel shipments so diesel is running out in some areas.
Paralysed roads and railways also threaten to make this year's Chinese New Year celebrations a miserable one away from families and hometowns.
On the main highway between Guangdong, the manufacturing powerhouse of the south, and neighbouring Hunan province, more than 20,000 trucks and other vehicles were stranded, Xinhua said.
Among them was a man taking 10 children by bus to Guangdong to visit their migrant-worker parents.
'Today is our fifth day on the bus,' Tan Wenming told Xinhua. 'Every day, we each get two packs of instant noodles to eat.'
Railway stations and airports remained choked with stranded passengers trying to return to families to celebrate the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, which starts on Feb 7.
In the south, more than 150,000 people crammed around the main station in Guangzhou, hoping for word of restored services - which seems unlikely soon, reported the Guangzhou Daily.
At the main Shanghai railway station, over 70,000 people were stranded by Monday night, local radio reported.
Up to 19 airports are completely shut and flights from many others are badly delayed\. \-- Reuters
