Two people missing in continuing S. China freeze

BEIJING - Two people went missing on Wednesday after a rain-triggered landslide in central China's Hunan Province as freezing weather continued to sweep most parts of southern China.

The landslide happened in the afternoon in Zixing City and caused 40,000 cubic meters of rocks to fall, said a publicity official for the city. Rescue efforts are under way for the two missing people.

The province will see a new round of rain or snow from Thursday night, according to weather forecasts.

The cold snap affected power supplies in some provinces as thousands of electricity workers were mobilized to clear accumulated snow and ice on  electricity transmission lines.

In Nanping City, Fujian Province, icy weather since December 31 caused a total of 76 electrical wires to stop working, affecting more than 10,000 households, the city's electricity bureau said.

The lines had all resumed operation on Wednesday after 1,300 workers cleared the ice and repaired the damaged transformer substations. They are now closely monitoring the city's power grids around the clock.

Shortage of natural gas supplies effected taxis in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province due to the weather. Some gas stations had long queues of taxis waiting outside. Some stations could only supply gas for three to four hours each day.

The recent icy weather also caused damage to large swathes of croplands and left more than 160,000 people in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and 379,000 in Guizhou Province in a state of disaster.

In Guangxi, freezing weather since January4 has damaged nearly 20,000 hectares of crops and caused direct economic losses of 84 million yuan (about 13.3 million U.S. dollars), according to the regional civil affairs department.

Guizhou's direct economic losses to the cold were estimated to be over 67.95 million yuan (about 10.91 million U.S. dollars), mostly coming in agricultural fields, local authorities said on Wednesday.

From Thursday, another round of rain and snow will hit most parts of southwest China, areas along the Yangtze and Hanjiang rivers, regions south of the Yangtze River and most of the country's south, the National Meteorological Center forecast on Wednesday.

In early 2008, freezing weather across southern China caused power cuts and transport chaos, preventing many residents from spending the Spring Festival holiday with their families.