BEIJING, Jan 26, 2008 (AFP) - The worst snowfalls in a decade caused traffic chaos across much of China Saturday as millions of people tried to head home for the important Lunar New Year holiday, state media reported. Tens of thousands of travellers were left stranded as transport in several regions across the centre, east and south of the country were hit by the bad weather. Several highways and airports, including in the central city of Changsha, capital of Hunan province, were shut, state-run television CCTV reported. The worst-hit provinces were Anhui in the east, central Hubei and Hunan, which supply millions of migrant workers who work in the cities and return to their families to celebrate Lunar New Year, which this year falls on February 7. Many trains were delayed in Hunan along the key railway line linking Beijing with the main southern city of Guangzhou, after snow and ice damaged overhead power lines for the electric trains, the official Xinhua news agency said. About 40,000 passengers were stranded at various stations along the route, Xinhua said, quoting a spokesman for the Guangzhou Railway Group Corp.
He said the company had dispatched some 10,000 workers to repair the damaged power lines and sent out more than 100 diesel locomotives to pull the electric trains and transport stranded passengers. Meanwhile, in the southwestern province of Guizhou, authorities closed several roads and 27,000 travellers were stranded waiting for their buses. Many parts of the country have been hit by the heaviest snowfalls in a decade, which have claimed at least 21 lives so far, state media reported. The meteorological agency Friday warned of further snowfalls in central and western China over the weekend. At the same time, the government called for all the services concerned to do everything possible to get fresh produce to markets and avoid shortages, which would fuel further inflation, a major concern for the authorities. "Transportation of fresh farm products -- including vegetables, fruits, livestock and poultry -- faces an extraordinarily grave situation as another round of widespread, continuous rain and snow will hit the country," the government said in a statement issued late Friday. "The transport authorities must strengthen road maintenance and promptly clear snow and ice from all the main and branch roads," it said.
For the Chinese, Lunar New Year is the most important holiday, when hundreds of millions of people travel by road, train and plane for annual family reunions. China is expecting more than 2.2 billion trips will be made by either rail, air or bus during the Lunar New Year travel period that extends from January 19 to March 2, state press reported. The railways ministry forecast that a record 178.6 million passengers would travel by train over the period, up from 156 million in 2007.
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