Everyday heroes arrive in a snap to keep holidays rolling

"I am not the one working the hardest. The driver who drives the snow removal tractor has worked for 24 hours and we are trying to get more drivers," he said.

Some of motorists worry that their car battery will go flat in the freezing temperatures so they drive in the emergency lane, making it difficult for the snow removal work. Part of Luo's job is to instruct each of those drivers to return to the correct lanes.

On many occasions he has had to help the drivers to move their cars, as the snow has made driving very challenging.

At 5 am, Luo looked tired, but he said he was not sleepy and added there was more work for him and his colleagues to do.

Special delivery

Liu Fang, a doctor at the Dianfang township of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture in Hunan, received a call from a pregnant woman in a local village on Sunday morning who told her she was about to give birth to her third child.

Liu and three other medical workers at the hospital immediately gathered the necessary medical equipment and headed to the woman's house.

However, the hospital's ambulance was not fitted with snow chains and it was unable to get through the heavy snow. Luckily, the doctors came across a three-wheel vehicle on the way and arrived at the woman's home in about 20 minutes.

The baby, however, was not in the right birthing position and there was a possibility the mother would require an urgent cesarean section surgery. "We tried our best to make her feel less stressed while monitoring her blood pressure, oxygen level and the baby's heartbeat," Liu said. "Luckily, the mother and baby were in a stable condition."

The doctors contacted another hospital in the county, and Shi Anna and another doctor rushed to the house. Again, the heavy snow made the journey by car difficult and a snow chain snapped along the way.

"I did not want to rush the driver, because it is difficult to drive on mountain roads in heavy snow," Shi said. "But I also wanted to arrive at the woman's home as soon as possible. I was prepared to perform the C-section surgery at her home if her condition became critical," she said.

It took her team more than two hours to arrive at the village, which is usually reached in an hour. To their relief, the woman's condition was good, so they took her to the county hospital to perform the surgery.

"The journey to the hospital was extremely bumpy and we could see multiple cars on the side of the road that had been involved in accidents, but my mind was also occupied with ensuring the safety of the mother and her child."

They arrived at the hospital at 3:15 pm and the woman gave birth to her son at around 5 pm. Both the mother and baby were in a stable condition, Shi said.