Severe weather is disrupting travel in China ahead of the Lunar New Year
Snow and freezing rain in China disrupted travel on Monday and had already led to hundreds of train and flight cancellations as millions of people traveled across the country ahead of the New Year holidays starting this weekend.
For years, heavy travel within and to China leading up to the holiday, known in Chinese as the Spring Festival, fueled the world's largest annual migration.
During the coronavirus pandemic, fear of lockdowns, quarantines and other rules kept many from traveling. Last year, authorities abruptly lifted these rules weeks before the Lunar New Year after facing widespread protests, but many would-be travelers stayed put because they feared the spread of the virus.
This year would mark a return to normal levels of holiday travel. China's aviation regulator said it had planned an additional 2,500 international flights on Saturday ahead of the holiday, and transport officials said they expected 480 million train journeys during the 40-day travel boom, an increase of almost 40 percent from last year.
But bad weather, which started last week and is expected to last for several days, was already in the way.
“I am now very worried about my trip home,” said Mei Huang, 45, a saleswoman in Beijing who planned to spend the holiday in her hometown in central Hubei province for the first time since the pandemic. “My way home doesn't look as smooth as it used to.”
The National Meteorological Center warnings issued in recent days for snowstorms and snowstorms in several provinces and cities in central and eastern China, including Chongqing, Guizhou, Hubei and Anhui.
Transportation officials deployed thousands of workers to clear snow and thaw rails and roads. Police officers helped push cars stuck on the icy roads. Nearly 100 highway toll plazas in Anhui have blocked car access due to snow and freezing conditions.
The national railway company, China State Railway Group, which averaged more than 11 million daily trips in the week after the annual rush hour began in late January, said on Saturday it had taken trains out of service or limited their speeds. Shanghai and parts of Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong provinces. The operator said it was also inspecting key routes, bridges, tunnels and other critical infrastructure.
The country's aviation regulator said hundreds of flights had been disrupted in recent days. Two runways at Wuhan Tianhe Airport were closed on Sunday, causing more than two hundred flights to be cancelled. There were also massive flight cancellations or delays at airports in Anhui and Hubei provinces.
Ms Huang, the saleswoman in Beijing, said she decided not to travel home to Hubei last Lunar New Year because she was worried about contracting and spreading the coronavirus. She said she still hoped to return this year, as long as snow and icy conditions didn't disrupt her plans.