Heavy snow storm hits life in Beijing

BEIJING: A heavy snow storm in the Chinese capital on Sunday disrupted air and road traffic.

At the International Airport in Beijing, more than 500 flights were delayed by 5 p.m., and over 400 were cancelled, mostly on domestic routes.

Only one of the three runways at the airport remained open, according to the airport management.

The second snowfall in the New Year’s Day holiday period turned out much heavier than the first one on Saturday. The city’s meteorological bureau upgraded the snowstorm alert from blue to yellow at 8.50 a.m. Sunday.

“The yellow alert means that the snowfall is going to turn heavier to above 6 mm in the next 12 hours,” said Guo Hu, the bureau chief.

Authorities in Beijing and Tianjin announced on Sunday that classes in primary and middle schools would be suspended on Monday.

Tianjin, near Beijing, has closed the airport and shut down highway traffic. — Xinhua