Posted on 01/28/2008 4:09:30 PM PST by traumer
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Chinese workers and army soldiers were racing to sweep snow-covered highways and unclog railway routes for millions of travelers trapped by cold weather.
More than 67 million people have been affected by the weather and economic losses are expected to reach as much as $3 billion, Chinese officials say.
Blizzards have snapped power lines and destroyed houses and farmland, prompting fears of food and energy shortages. Twenty-four people have died and some 827,000 people have been evacuated in 14 different provinces, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Monday.
In the past week, the snowstorms have hit the provinces in central, eastern and southern China -- places that are used to mild winters, not extreme wintry blasts.
"We've never seen such a cold weather lasting for such long a time," said Tang Shan, a man in his 70s in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. "The last time we had one here was over 50 years ago, and not this bad."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
One also has to wonder how they’re handling supply and sanitation. Water can be melted from snow, at the cost of heating energy of course. But this many people are going to require VERY significant amounts of food and toilets.
My husband just returned from Shanghai and said the same thing. They just don’t know how to handle it. The major hotels have central heat, but most homes have little to none. Most factories have none.
I didn’t know Algore was in China...
That is a made-up photo.
1) All that snow - impossible with global warming.
2) China is the new Superpower of the world and doesn’t use overloaded scooters in their distribution systems.
Why? What you gonna do come election day? Well, I guess fishing might be better.
They must have some pretty big trains in China if 1/2 million are stranded at the depot.
There’s a chink in their snow removal plan.
Some chinaman once warned his people against underestimating the enemy. But if we Americans are witnessing our chinese enemies getting 'slammed' by something as flaky, fluffy, dainty, and light as snow, we can should at least be able to laugh at them.
I wonder if they might not have changed the weather patterns with the building of the Three Gorges Dam. Lots more moisture in the air now.
Yep. I’ve been going to China for a decade and can NEVER remember a winter as cold or extended as this one. The eastern and southern part of the country just aren’t ready for this kind of cold snap.
Imagine taking an Illinois winter and dropping it on Hawaii for a month. All kinds of havoc after the first week! You strain systems too much for too long and things just break down...
May very well be... That might explain Shanghai and the East of China, but Beijing is considerably north, and the south of China’s getting whacked with a cold snap, too.
It’s like the cold from Siberia just decided to ram itself down across the entire East of Asia. Happens once in a while in Shanghai (most winters have a few days below freezing, and maybe a week or two in the 32-40 degree range), but this has gone on and on, with no letup.
I guess High Priest Algore is wrong about Global Warming - I know a hundred million Chinese in the Nanjing/Shanghai/Ningbo corridor would love to have a 10 degree spike right about now!
“Snow slams China; half million stranded at train station”
That is one big train station!
and I don't see heavy snow. I see it SNOWING and I see some ice on the power lines, but in virtually every picture of snow, I see 3-4 inches of snow. What am I missing? It's not like tthey got 6-7 FEET of snow.
Same with the pic upthread and one I saw last night.
All I see is 3-4 inches. Must be me I guess.
["We've never seen such a COLD weather lasting for such long a time," said Tang Shan, a man in his 70s in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. "The last time we had one here was over 50 years ago, and not this bad."]
Super duper serial situation bump.
Snow is a relative metric - 3” in MI, who cares.
3” in DC, now - absolute panic.
Being that the people in Shanghai aren’t used to snow falling more than 30 days, I wonder how the cities plumbing will be once spring hits?
How deep is the frost line this year and will the drinking water pipes be fine and not frozen or busted, and are the stormwater and sewage pipes frozen or not?
Just wait till the toilets all back up at the train station...
Boy, am I ever a Snowflake. My first reaction was to wonder what Tony said about China.
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