Snowstorms impede travel during China’s Lunar New Year

Snow and ice have caused travel problems in many parts of China as millions of people are going home for the Lunar New Year.

Many flights and train services were stopped, and drivers have been stuck on icy roads for many days.

Many people in China go back to their hometowns during the holiday, causing the biggest yearly migration of people.

Travel has started to increase after Covid-19 restrictions were removed more than a year ago.

Officials predict that people will take 480 million trips during the Lunar New Year, also called the Spring Festival. The volume is 40% more than last year.

China’s weather experts said this winter will be the worst since 2008. The middle part of the country, including places like Hebei, Hubei, and Anhui, has been hit the hardest by the freezing weather.

On social media, Chinese people expressed that the very cold weather ruined their plans to meet up with their family. They put up pictures of themselves stuck in trains and train stations because the power lines were cut.

The Lunar New Year will be on February 10, which is a Saturday.

Three years ago, a snowstorm in Wuhan caused people tostay in the city during Spring Festival because of Covid-19 outbreak. Three years later, we still can’t access it,” as mentioned on X, which used to be called Twitter. The X person posted a video of a very crowded train station with lots of people stuck on the escalators because there were too many people.

Some people said thank you to the ones who went out in the cold to bring food and hot water to the people stuck on the icy roads. One video showed a woman in Xiantao, a city in Hubei province, using a pulley system to fill up water bottles for people stuck on the highway. “You can simply place your bottle in the basket. ” “There’s no need to give money,” she said.

Around 255 cities in the country have had days with really cold temperatures below 0C, which is much colder than before.

Almost 100 highway toll stations in Anhui are not allowing cars to enter because the roads are icy. On Monday, the news reported that 4,000 cars were stuck on the roads.

One person passed away and 13 people got hurt in a city in Hunan province on Monday when a roof fell down because of heavy snow at a market.

The government of China will give 141 million yuan ($20 million) to clear snow from highways and do related work in 11 provinces. This was reported by CCTV.

The very cold weather will get better soon, and the most serious blizzard warning will be lifted by authorities on Wednesday. It will keep snowing in south and central China, but it will get warmer by Friday.