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.
The snow affected 7.8 million people in Hubei and caused losses of 1.43 billion yuan (198 million U.S. dollars), said Liu Hui, an official with the provincial department of civil affairs on Monday.
Nine people were killed in snow-related traffic accidents in the province. Hubei also saw the collapse of 11,305 houses and 481,300 hectares of crops damaged.
Half of the province's roads, totaling more than 1,000 kilometers, have been closed since Saturday. More than 8,800 of the scheduled 9,500 long-distance coaches from Wuhan city have been cancelled, affecting about 300,000 passengers, according to local sources.
In the eastern Anhui Province, 2.84 million people were affected and the direct economic loss stood at 400 million yuan.
Snow has forced all freeways in areas of Anhui north of the Yangtze River to remain closed since 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, said sources from the Anhui Provincial General Detachment of Traffic Police.
Luogang Airport in Hefei, capital of Anhui, was forced to close for 11 hours from late Saturday until early Sunday due to icy runways, which caused 11 flights to be delayed.
The transmission line that carries electricity from the Three Gorges Project to Shanghai was broken in the heavy snow, and more than 450 repair staff have been working around the clock to repairit.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs said earlier on Monday that 5,750people had been relocated due to the snow.
In Shanghai, snow affected about 100 long-distance bus service routes on Sunday and delayed more than 30 flights.
In western Tibet, emergency workers have rescued 131 people from snowbound highways in the Ngari Prefecture since last Thursday, but local officials fear others may be still trapped.
Source: Xinhua
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