North China swings into action to tackle persistent cold wave

CHANGCHUN -- North China has sprung into action in response to the lingering cold wave that has disrupted people's lives, with workers striving to restore the power supply and clear the snow-laden roads.

Jilin province in northeast China, which activated a level-IV emergency response to heavy snowfall on Sunday, faced a power outage that impacted 1.36 million households. The local electricity company promptly dispatched 418 teams, including 3,463 repair workers and 989 vehicles, to fix the power supply problem. By Monday night, power had been successfully restored to nearly 847,000 households.

The provincial capital Changchun had formulated a plan to clear the roads two days before the snowfall, mobilizing nearly 1,700 sanitation workers with snow removal vehicles to ensure road safety for traffic. "We began our work early in the morning and have been continuing for eight hours," said Liu Shu, a local worker, on Monday evening.

Six oriental white storks, stranded in an industrial park in Changchun amid heavy snowfall, were rescued on Monday. These migratory bird species come under first-class national protection and would normally gather around Changchun in early November before migrating to the south. However, this year, their journey was impeded by the cold wave.

In Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, which is adjacent to Jilin, primary and middle schools, as well as kindergartens, remained closed on Tuesday. Schools located on the outskirts have been asked to assess their specific circumstances and take a call regarding the suspension of classes.

A cold front has ushered in strong winds and heavy snowfall across northern and northeastern China since Sunday. Meteorological authorities said Tuesday that the cold wave will continue in north China over the next three days, with gales and snowfall expected in the northeastern provinces including Heilongjiang and Jilin, as well as Inner Mongolia autonomous region in the north.