Ringing In The Year Of The Rat Blackout
Reuters is reporting that the transportation chaos in China has abated somewhat but that millions of people will be ringing in the Chinese New Year in the dark. The situation is so bad that the government is deploying truck mounted diesel generators to many areas. Widespread areas are without power in this coldest winter in a century or more.
KAILI, China (Reuters) - Railways and highways were returning to normal across China on Tuesday, 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, which begins on Wednesday and offers the only chance for poor migrant workers to visit loved ones, 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 the central province of Hunan, began its 11th day without power on Tuesday, with people lining up at fire hydrants with buckets to get water.
The State Electricity Regulatory 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 the subtropical southern province of Guizhou, was cut off for several days by thick ice and hail.
It doesn't sound like a subtropical paradise at the moment, does it? The Rutgers Snow Lab shows that much of China is still covered in snow at the moment. It looks to be a bleak New Year celebration for a lot of Chinese this year.
Environment, World news | Gaius Tuesday, 5 February , 2008
By lawhawk, Tuesday, 5 February , 2008 @ 9:53 am
While there may be snow on the ground, just how much actually fell? That information is strangely absent from many of the reports. I know that a couple of inches of snow in the Southeast US is enough to cause significant disruptions, but the same amount in the Northeast is nothing more than a nuisance.
It also appears that some of the problems are self-inflicted due to price controls imposed by the Communists on coal prices, along with their control on media to limit the negative stories leaking out.