Heavy snowfall in Beijing disrupts traffic
By IANSSunday, January 3, 2010
BEIJING - Heavy snow in Beijing Sunday led to closed expressways, delayed flights and disrupted bus services.
About 120 outbound flights were delayed at the Beijing Capital International Airport and 86 flights were cancelled.
Only one of the three runways at the airport remained open, according to the airport management, Xinhua news agency reported.
Snow blanketed roads in the city and temperature was expected to touch lows of minus 10 degrees Celsius Sunday, according to the Central Meteorological Station.
Airport operation in Tianjin municipality, Shijiazhuang and Hohhot were also affected by the heavy snow.
The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau said that expressways linking Beijing to neighbouring Hebei province and Tianjin were closed due to snow and ice on the road surface.
The traffic bureau of Beijing said that 60 bus routes were affected by snow, including service suspension on 47 routes to rural areas.
Zhang Zhiqiang, an official in charge of road cleaning in the Beijing Environment and Sanitation Engineering Group Co. Ltd., said 960 workers and 193 snow-clearing vehicles had been working for more than 12 hours to ensure smooth traffic.
