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Millions of Chinese endure outages

Railways and highways were returning to normal across China yesterday, but millions are likely to spend the biggest holiday of the year without power and water in what for some is the coldest winter in a century.

The freezing weather in the run-up to the Lunar New Year break has killed scores of people and left millions stranded.

Whole cities have had their power and water cut off for more than a week and so far 11 electricians have been killed trying to reconnect lines or break ice encasing poles and cables.

Chenzhou, a city of about 4 million in Hunan Province, began its 11th day without power yesterday, with people lining up at fire hydrants with buckets to get water.

"It is extremely cold and inconvenient. I haven't had a shower for about 10 days," said a Chenzhou travel agent who gave only her surname, Hong. "There is no heat. We take turns to use water."

Chief engineer Gu Junyuan (顧峻源) of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said yesterday that power was temporarily restored to some parts of Chenzhou on Monday evening, but failed again after just three hours.

Workers would be hard pressed to restore power across the region by the start of the holiday, he said.

Gu said that China's grid met international standards on storm resistance, but that ice that formed on power lines was up to six times thicker than the cables had been designed to withstand. Officials had decided against reinforcing them due to the cost, he said.

"I believe that by doing so, we would use more resources and it will lead to higher electricity costs," Gu said.

The commission said it intended to restore power to 80 percent of affected households in the next few days. Supply to the rest of the families would be resumed by tapping some 2,670 diesel-fired generating vehicles.

Kaili, with a population of half a million in subtropical Guizhou Province, was cut off for several days by thick ice and hail.

On the road from the provincial capital Guiyang, many areas were still covered in thick ice with pine trees wilting or broken under the weight. Television showed downed powerlines and towers.

Kaili and other larger county capitals are receiving electricity, but officials and locals say many villagers in the countryside remain without power and there could be many days if not weeks before it is restored.

Traveling through the countryside at night, hamlets were in thick darkness with only candles providing flickering light.

"The situation has been improving with all the outside assistance, but fixing supplies to smaller towns and villages will take a long time," engineer Zhang Xuejiang said.

But for many locals, the biggest headache is skyrocketing prices with pork, rice and other staples doubling in price, or even higher.

Army and civilian trucks are bringing in diesel generators and boxes of blankets and food.

"The electricity is back on now, but the problems certainly aren't all over," said Xu Hong, a vendor. "Food is so expensive."

He said he knew that leaders in Beijing were working to fix the problems.

"But we're very poor and out of the way. Anything always takes a long time," he said.

The snow has been falling in China's eastern, central and southern regions since the middle of last month, bringing down houses, destroying crops and holding up vital coal supplies.

Another headache for residents in and around Kaili, with telephone connections either ruptured or weak, has been trying to trace family members planning to return for the holiday.

Zhang Dehua, waiting for his son at Kaili station, had called him a couple of days ago but hadn't heard of him since.

"I was hoping he would be on that train but I don't think he was," he said forlornly. "I will just have to wait for the next one and maybe the next one."

At noon yesterday, service at two railway stations in Guangzhou was back to normal after 11 days of chaos, the Guangzhou Railway Group Corp said.

About 350,000 train passengers left Beijing on Monday, 20,000 more than on Sunday, a Beijing Railway Bureau spokesman said.

The China Meteorological Administration said on Monday the weather was the coldest in 100 years in central Hubei and Hunan provinces but it expected milder conditions ahead.
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