Beijing traffic authority has decided to go all out to deal with possible traffic jams or accidents during peak hours Monday morning after a snow storm Sunday caused traffic breakdown in the national capital.
"Low temperature and ice-covered roads are expected to severely affect local traffic on Monday morning," said Song Jianguo, head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.
Snow cleaners work at full tilt at Beijing Capital International Airport, where more than 90 percent of flights were cancelled or severely delayed yesterday, with only one of the three runways open at one point. [China Daily]
More than 7,000 traffic police will be deployed to patrol the city's main roads from 7:00 a.m. on Monday, and more than 5,000 volunteers to maintain order on crowded bus stops, said Song.
A total of 300 temporary buses will also be dispatched to densely populated communities to ease passenger flow, Song said.
Due to the snow storm, education authorities in Beijing and Tianjin announced on Sunday that classes in primary and middle schools would be suspended on Monday.
Tianjin, neighboring Beijing, has closed the city's airport and shut down highway traffic.
In the Capital International Airport in Beijing, 491 flights were delayed and 756 flights cancelled as of 9 p.m.. Only one of the three runways at the airport remained open, according to the airport management.
The second snowfall in the New Year's Day holiday period turned out much heavier than the first one on Saturday. The city's meteorological bureau upgraded the snowstorm alert from blue to yellow at 8:50 a.m. Sunday.
"The yellow alert means that the snowfall is going to turn heavier to above 6 millimeters in the next 12 hours," said Guo Hu, the bureau chief.
Pedestrians walk across a road in snow in Beijing, China, Jan. 3, 2010. Heavy snow hit Beijing on Sunday, closing expressways, delaying flights and disrupting bus services. [Xinhua]
He said that the northern part of Beijing received the most snowfall, or 12.6 millimeters by Sunday morning. The average snowfall in the city reached 4.8 millimeters.
The snowfall in Beijing set a daily record since 1951, according to the National Meteorological Center.
"I don't remember I have ever seen such a big snowfall in the city. I am wondering about tomorrow's traffic, as snow has blanketed roads," said a local resident surnamed Zhou in her 30s.
The city government has mobilized 300,000 people to clear the snow.
The meteorological bureau chief said after the snowfall on Sunday, the temperature would plummet by 7 to 8 degrees to minus 16 degrees Celsius in the next three days, which would be the lowest since the 1980s.
The traffic bureau of Beijing said that 60 bus routes were affected by snow, including service suspension on 47 routes to the rural areas.
"Luckily, we are still in the New Year holiday. More people will be affected tomorrow," said Liu Juan, a local resident who went out to enjoy the snow view.
