The forestry industry in Hunan emerged as the biggest casualty of the recent disastrous snowstorms that ravaged the province for three weeks, provincial leaders said yesterday.
As Governor Zhou Qiang declared that electricity would return to every village in the province today - about 55 days after the worst blizzards in five decades started wreaking havoc in several provinces and regions - others suggested it may take much longer for the forests to recover.
Winds, and the weight of the snow and ice brought down trees as well as bamboo in Hunan in what Mr Zhou described as 'fatal damage' to the province's forests.
'Areas affected by this disaster were those where the forestry industry was growing the fastest and was the most vibrant,' he said. 'The disaster situation is at present still continuing for the forestry sector and the losses might get bigger.'
As of the end of last month, the winter storms had inflicted a 16.5 billion yuan (HK$18.11 billion) toll on the province's forestry industry.
'We lost more than 70 per cent of our bamboo to the snowstorms,' said Yu Aiguo, mayor of Xiangtan , one of the worst-hit places in the province. 'About 50 years will be needed for its restoration.
'For some creatures classified as protected species, it will take about 100 years.'