| Traffic was slowly improving yesterday in southern provinces hit by the worst winter weather in five decades.
Airports in major cities, including Wuhan, Hefei, Nanjing, Nanchang and Guiyang, had reopened by yesterday morning while the airport in worst-hit Changsha reopened at 6:30 p.m. yesterday, hours after it closed again in the morning.
Thousands of passengers, however, were still trapped on icy highways, the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday.
"The situation is improving," said ministry spokesman Wu Heping at a press conference yesterday. 鈥淥ne of the key tasks now is to reopen the section of the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway in Guangdong.鈥
The north-south trunk road remained blocked at several sections yesterday.
A 116-kilometer section in the central province of Hunan was still frozen and vehicles were moving at a speed of five kilometers an hour, Wu said.
"So far, about 6,400 vehicles with more than 10,000 passengers are still on the road,鈥 he said.
The whole of Hunan has been gearing up to reopen the expressway. More than 100,000 soldiers, 20,000 government officials, 7,000 policemen, 2,400 transport officials and 40,000 citizens were working to clear ice from the expressway.
"We have to prepare for tougher situations as the weather forecast says it will continue raining and snowing for the next seven days in Hunan,鈥 Wu said.
About 5,000 vehicles were moving slowly over a distance of 25 km on the section in Hubei Province to the north of Hunan.
Meanwhile, on the section from southern Guangdong to Hunan, about a 20-kilometer stretch was still under ice. Vehicles heading south on the expressway had begun moving forward at snail鈥檚 pace while the lanes heading north remained closed.
The expressway was expected to open to traffic yesterday, according to the ministry.
Along the highway linking Anhui with Zhejiang, about 6,000 vehicles were still trapped with more than 20,000 people, Wu said.
In Jiangxi Province, about 8,000 vehicles and 20,000 people were stranded along the highway linking the two major cities, Nanchang and Jiujiang.
Almost all expressways through southwestern Guizhou Province had been closed since Tuesday.
Traffic flows in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been restored, Wu said.
About 992,000 officers were directing traffic nationwide, he said.
Several key rail lines experienced delays or closures. The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was most affected, with 62 trains stranded, the ministry said.
Editor: Yan
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