China Storms Kill 60, More Snow Coming

Forecasters warned of new snowstorms battering hard-hit central China starting Friday, just as a massive pre-holiday transport crunch sparked by the worst winter storms in five decades showed signs of easing.

China's Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday the wicked winter weather had killed at least 60 people and caused $7.48 billion in damages over the last three weeks.

And just as China says the cleanup is working, forecasters say another blizzard is on the way, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen.

More snow was to hit four central and eastern provinces, with parts of Hunan - already among the worst stricken - to see more than half an inch over a six-hour period, the provincial weather bureau said.

The snow and below-freezing temperatures were expected to have further impacts on agriculture, the electrical grid, telecommunications and transport, the bureau said.

While the snowfall was not particularly heavy by northern standards, Hunan and the surrounding regions rarely see winter storms and have been ill-equipped to deal with three weeks of near continuous snow and freezing rain.

The freakish weather is China's worst natural disaster in a decade, paralyzing the country's densely populated central and eastern regions just as tens of millions of travelers were seeking to board trains and buses to return home for this month's Lunar New Year holiday.

The weather has affected about 80 million people in one way or another, state media says. Power cuts have plunged huge cities into darkness, with parts of Chenzhou, a city of 1.2 million in Hunan, without power for eight days.

Most of Chenzhou's shops have closed, leading to shortages of basic goods, and fire trucks have been dispatched to distribute water to residents because pumps stopped working and pipes froze, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The city had just seven days of diesel supplies and enough rice for five days, requiring emergency supplies to be brought in from neighboring areas under difficult conditions, CCTV said.

The crisis has severely tested contingency plans that all regions were ordered to draw up following the last major national crisis - the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. It also comes just months ahead of the Beijing Olympics, an event of enormous national importance that the communist government has pledged to make a success at any cost.

Beijing, like most of northern China, has been spared the wild weather and was cold but clear on Friday.

Cancellations of train and bus services has led to chaotic scenes at the key rail hub of Guangzhou as hundreds of thousands of migrant workers desperately try to board trains to travel home for the only chance many have of seeing their families all year.

Storms have wiped out winter crops, downed power lines and disrupted coal deliveries, prompting extraordinary visits Thursday by President Hu Jintao to a coal mine and port to encourage increased production and deliveries.

But trucks can't get through with coal or diesel fuel for electric generating plants and ice keeps snapping power lines, reports Petersen.

Power failures have stopped electric trains on their tracks, while thick ice on roadways has closed key north-south highways.

Dozens have been reported killed in accidents and thousands sickened by exposure - many of them trapped in stranded vehicles. Millions were without electricity and water supplies due to disruptions to the grid, sending the government into crisis mode to ensure deliveries of food and fuel and provide shelter and sustenance for travelers.

Officials planned to announce further measures at a news conference in Beijing Friday afternoon.

With the addition of special trains, daily passenger capacity out of the key southern rail hub of Guangzhou had risen to 400,000, official newspapers said, although the station and surrounding areas remained packed with travelers unable to board.

To the relief of officials, about 60 percent of the 19 million migrant workers in the surrounding industrial powerhouse province of Guangdong had simply given up, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing provincial officials. Most would stay in their dorms and factories over the holiday, which starts Feb. 7.

Ministries in Beijing have promised tens of millions of dollars in relief funds and subsidies. Much of that was to encourage ramped up food production in the spring planting season, amid fears that food shortages would add to already soaring inflation.

At Guangzhou station on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of desperate travelers, some hoisting terrified children or baggage over their heads, pushed their way onto trains as some rail services resumed.

Piles of suitcases, dirty blankets, duffel bags, clothing and shoes were abandoned in the chaotic stampede, littering the rain-soaked train yard, the starting point for the vital artery to Beijing in the north.

A record 178.6 million people - more than the population of Russia - were expected to ride the rails. Most would be traveling in "hard-seat class," in train cars with only upright benches covered with a thin layer of padding.

To control the crowds, police built a massive corral the size of two or three football fields around the train station plaza. Thousands of travelers were herded into the outdoor waiting area, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, pressed tightly against one another.

Cheng Xia, 28, a graphic designer, said he went to Guangzhou's station the night before, but gave up his spot and went home. He swapped his large suitcase for a small carry-on bag so he could navigate through the crowd better. He also packed a tote bag full of snacks and a roll of toilet paper for the trip home to the western province of Sichuan, normally a 20-hour journey.

"The weather is still bad," he said. "Once I get on a train, who knows how long I'll be on it? We could get stuck for three or four days."