Coldest winter hits China
2013-01-06 11:59
Beijing - The coldest weather for 30 years brought temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius and left about 260 000 people in need of emergency aid in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, state media said on Sunday.
The cold spell killed at least two people and about 180 000 head of livestock, affecting some 770000 people across Inner Mongolia since late December, the Xinhua news agency said.
More than 3 700 people were evacuated, the agency quoted local officials as saying.
China's average winter temperatures since late November were the lowest for 28 years, the Meteorological Administration said on Saturday.
The average in the three north-eastern provinces bordering Siberia hit a 43-year low of minus 15 degrees, the administration said.
Temperatures in parts of Inner Mongolia fell to minus 40 degrees last week and snow lay up to 50cm deep in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, reports said.
In Mongolia, an independent nation that borders Inner Mongolia, temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius were recorded, Xinhua reported from Ulan Bator.
The agency quoted the Mongolian government as saying snow up to 1.3m deep had covered more than 80% of the country, cutting roads and endangering livestock in many areas.
The cold weather also caused a build-up of sea ice that stranded about 1 000 boats in Laizhou Bay in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, reports said.
- SAPA
