Tanks roll on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway to deice the snow- and ice-covered road surface as soldiers shovel snow in Chenzhou, Central China's Hunan Province, February 3, 2008. [Xinhua]
Posted on 02/03/2008 7:12:28 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Tanks sent to deice storm-affected highways
(Xinhua) Updated: 2008-02-03 19:30
CHAOHU, Anhui -- The Chinese army has sent out tanks to clean the icy expressways in eastern Anhui Province.
Tanks roll on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway to deice the snow- and ice-covered road surface as soldiers shovel snow in Chenzhou, Central China's Hunan Province, February 3, 2008. [Xinhua] |
Two tanks have finished their work Sunday, deicing 110-km surface of two expressways in the province, said military sources here Sunday.
Traffic on the Hefei-Anqing and Hefei-Wuhu expressways had suffered heavy snow in the past week with thousands of vehicles stranded.
The tanks were sent there Thursday evening, but it took them more than 30 hours to cover the distance that usually costs just two and half hours in normal weather, due to the dense traffic jam on the way.
They started deicing the road on early Saturday morning, the source said.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China had deployed 306,000 soldiers to combat the worst winter storm in five decades.
About 1.07 million militia and army reservists were also participating in the relief efforts.
Other military vehicles such as field kitchen trucks and armored cars are playing an important role in de-icing and rescue missions. More than 100 aircraft and helicopters remained on standby, air force sources said.
Armored cars are busy deicing the road surface along the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway, a south-north trunk road that have been repeatedly affected by the winter storm.
On Saturday, the air force had sent three transporters to help ship relief material from southern Guangdong Province to neighboring most-affected Hunan Province.
Meanwhile, two transporters flew to the southwestern province of Guizhou, carrying 5.5 tons of relief material and equipment including food, medicine and quilts.
By 1:33 p.m. on Saturday, the first of six helicopters loaded with relief goods, deployed by the Chengdu Military Area in southwest China, flew to Yibin, Sichuan Province. The copters were to airdrop 5,500 quilts over snow-hit areas in Dazhou and Yibin's Changning County, which on top of the snow was hit by a medium-intensity earthquake early on Friday.
From the look of the tread pattern, I would figure that that tire gets pretty decent wet-pavement traction as well.
Tanks to deice roads and submachine gun fire to deice power line structures. Yeah. That's the ticket. The tanks and submachine guns might have another functionality. The freezing and starving people keep hearing the sound of submachine gun fire and keep seeing tanks driving all over the place.
Has the US ever deployed tanks and submachine gin fire during a natural (non-riot) disaster ?
gin = gun
Hankook winter tires work very well here
What kind are they?
Well, techically, yes. At Snoqualamie Pass here in Wa St. they used to use the 105mm Main Gun from M-60A3 tanks to shoot snowpacks and induce controlled avalanches. Don’t know if that’s still done, but I know our gunners got a kick out of doing it!
Regards,
If you look at the picture, about eight guys with snow shovels are working in the shadow of a tank. They’re probably doing the actual work; the tank merely provides some minimal shelter from the weather, food, and fresh snow shovels. (The Chinese aren’t known for their efficiency.)
I think even Phoenix or Mississippi or Florida or probably even Louisiana could handle this type of wintertime natural disaster better than what we see from the People’s Republic of China. Chenzhou, a city of 4 million people slightly colder on average than Jackson (Mississippi), hasn’t had any electric power for two weeks.
Do you really live at high altitude or at high elevation? I would think that high altitude would be more like living in a balloon or something.
Thanks for that info. China does not have avalanche problems. Snow fall was under a foot. We have had some serious avalanches in the US. Saw one video on weather.com where a highway was closed and two vehicles partially buried under an avalanche. It was over 100 feet long and 30 feet deep on the road. The guy removing the avalanche said the amount of snow they had to remove was equal to all the avalanches they have cleared in the last 25 years. So who knows, they may have to call out the big guns yet, but I think they use mortars and helicopter drops nowadays though.
Maybe the tank treads (theirs are steel, whereas ours have rubber track pads) break up the ice for the shovel bubbas. Of course, they may be using the exhaust to warm up as well...
Regards,
I don’t know, but, those tanks with it’s weight can damage the roads.
Wimps. Those Chinese wouldn't last a day where I live.
The shovel bubbas were probably transported by the trucks in the left of the image. So the tanks probably also help clear the road for the trucks. If cars or trucks are stuck on the road, just push them off the road with the tanks.
Waco ?
Hey, I think we should get a job with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission...
Regards,
Interesting.
Not exactly a natural disaster, unless you look at what happened after the tanks got done with the 'compound'.
300,000 soldiers to shovel snow?
I don’t understand this. How is it the chinese are this pathetic in a snow storm, yet they are stealing all our manufacturing jobs like there’s no tomorrow?
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