Snow brings power misery for 640,000

A visitor walks in the snow-covered trees yesterday on Baoshi Mountain, north of West Lake, in Hangzhou City, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang Province. It was the first snowfall of the winter in the city and also the earliest in recent years.

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MORE than 640,000 people in Anqing City, eastern China's Anhui Province, have suffered power shortages since Sunday due to heavy snow, the local power company said yesterday.

Almost 115,600 people still had no power by yesterday afternoon, said Hu Xiaoyan, press officer with the Anqing Municipal Electric Power Company.

Snow, up to 8 centimeters deep, brought down power poles and transmission lines, paralyzing electric water pumps and causing drinking water supply problems in some villages in Tongcheng City, the worst-hit region.

The rare snowfall incurred 37.51 million yuan (US$5.49 million) in losses to the urban and rural power systems, according to the company.

More than 5,000 workers are repairing damaged network facilities to try to restore supplies by tomorrow.

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