Unusually heavy snowfall and frost have caused long traffic jams and train and flight cancellations in central China during the peak travel season before the approaching Spring Festival. According to official information, the provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan were hit particularly hard.
Chinese state television showed numerous road workers shoveling snow from snow-covered highways. As a result, the authorities closed numerous toll booths, which meant that the respective motorway sections were closed.
According to state television, some travelers were stuck on the highway for up to ten hours because nothing was moving forward. The winter weather also affected rail and air traffic. At the train station in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, dozens of train connections were canceled due to ice and snow. The city’s airport temporarily closed its runways on Tuesday due to the weather.
The weather agency had warned of heavy snowfall and severe winter weather ahead of the Spring Festival, which falls on February 10 this year. In Hunan, one person died on Monday when the roof of a market in the city of Yiyang collapsed under snow. Several people were injured. Meteorologists are expecting further snowfall in the coming days.
The Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year, is one of the most important holidays in China. Because the entire country is on vacation, millions of people travel back to their families every year. The Transportation Ministry expected about nine billion trips around the Spring Festival this year. The statisticians usually count each traveler individually. So for a family of four going on vacation, four trips would be calculated.
