Electricity has been partially restored in Chenzhou, one of the
worst-hit cities currently suffering the heavy snow that has hit
much of China for nearly three weeks, a local disaster relief
official said on Sunday.
The central Hunan Province city, home to 4 million people, has
been without electricity and running water for over a week because
of the severe snow that had damaged power facilities and burst
water pipes.
"Although we are busy maintaining some damaged utility poles,
more have been falling under the weight of the snow and ice. This
has made power resumption still more difficult," said Xu Yun, a
Hunan Provincial Power Company official.
A 220 kilovolts utility tower fell on Saturday in the city,
halting the maintenance and engineering work.
Liu Zhenya, general manager of the State Grid Corporation of
China, said the maintenance of the Chenzhou section grid should be
viewed as a critical project so the city's power could be resumed
as soon as possible.
Residents were struggling with darkness and cold. Prices of
candles and coal balls, for illumination and heating, respectively,
have soared.
A new round of snow started to hit the country's central,
southern and eastern areas on Friday, adding to the woes caused by
previous snowfalls.
Hunan has been one of the hardest-hit areas over the past three
weeks.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)
