China braces for another wave of snowstorms, issues sleet alert
The deep freeze in central and southern parts of the country to continue, with death toll already at 15
A second wave of blizzards is expected to hit central and southern China this week, compounding transport woes from last week’s heavy snowfalls.
The National Meteorological Centre said snow had already started falling again on Sunday in the provinces of Henan, Hebei, Hubei and Anhui, and further falls were expected this week in the northeast provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.
Light falls were forecast for mountainous parts of Fujian and Guangdong in the south.
The centre said rainstorms had hit northern areas of Guangxi and Guangdong, as well as Jiangxi and Fujian provinces, and would continue until Tuesday morning.
Heavy snow paralysed public transport and energy supplies in central and eastern China last week, killing at least 15 people in the most severe weather so far this winter.
Anhui was particularly hard hit, reporting 1.26 billion yuan (US$194 million) in direct economic losses from the wild weather since Tuesday, according to Anhui Daily.
By Saturday, more than half a million people in Hubei province had been affected, hundreds of whom had to move out of their homes, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.