Snow and fog cloud exodus back to work after Lunar New Year
Heavy snow in the northeast and thick fog in central and southern China add to traffic woes as travellers hit the road again after the holiday.
Millions of travellers battled blizzards and heavy fog in the exodus back to workplaces yesterday as today's end of the week-long national Lunar New Year holiday loomed.
Mainland reports said provinces in the northeast were blanketed by heavy snow and central and southern provinces by thick fog, adding to traffic woes for those hitting the road again.
Passengers reportedly made nearly 1.1 billion journeys over the break this year, with the traffic authorities expecting yesterday afternoon's travel crunch to intensify today.
The National Meteorological Centre issued a blue alert - its lowest warning - for blizzards in the country's northeast and urged people to stay indoors as much as possible. Three people were killed and eight injured after a car crashed into a coach in heavy snow in Heilongjiang on the weekend, Xinhua reported.
China News Service reported that conditions on more than 30 expressways were being closely monitored. The Ministry of Public Security said heavy snowfalls had already shut down some major traffic arteries in Heilongjiang, Jilin , Liaoning , Shanxi and Gansu provinces, while thick fog was expected to disrupt traffic in Henan , Jiangsu , Anhui and Hubei .