It’s a nippy start to the New Year, safety nets provide protection
Print Edition
The intense, unseasonable cold that has descended on Shanghai since the start of the year triggered a heartwarming response in Minhang District.
The temperature dropped to as low as minus 7.4 degrees Celsius on January 8, the coldest in two decades.
An orange low-temperature alert was raised, and various district government agencies sprang into action.
Cleaners were dispatched to scrape ice off roads, and protective covers were put over public areas at high risk of icing up.
At Xinzhuang Station, Metro staff coated rails with non-congealing oil. Every hour, inspections for ice or snow were conducted.
Staff from the district’s rescue and aid management station began night patrols at six sites, looking for anyone who might need help.
“Homeless people and sometimes the unemployed have no place to go and usually hole up under bridges,” said Jin Jie, head of the station. “We invited them to come and stay in our station, and if they declined, we left them with some necessities to protect themselves from the extreme cold.”
At one spot, the night patrol found a homeless man who wanted to stay put. They gave him warm bedding and a contact card if he changed his mind.
Outdoor workers also found protection from the cold. Minhang has more than 90 shelter stations for workers like street cleaners, deliverymen, cab drivers and urban management assistants to come for a rest, to eat meals, to recharge their phones and to get drinking water. All shelter stations expanded their stocks of gloves.
The cold snap wasn’t all bad news. For some, it was a bit of fun.
Some people tried the popular trick of spraying boiling water into the air to enjoy the sight of its turning into ice fog.
In Xinzhuang Park, people came to view the frozen lake, with a small boat stuck near the bank. Residents are reminded not to venture out onto the lake because the ice is thin and could easily crack.
Shanghai was not the only place in China to suffer extreme cold. Temperatures in four out of five provinces have hovered at or below average since December.
One national meteorologist blamed the intense cold on La Nina, a climate phenomenon that results in cooling of ocean surface temperatures, and on near record-low sea ice in the Arctic.
Temperatures in the past month have pushed above 10 degrees Celsius at times.
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