Eight Chinese counties to spend Lunar New Year's Eve in darkness

BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Electricity has come back to most of the Chinese regions hit by the worst winter storms in five decades, but people in eight counties are likely to spend their Lunar New Year's Eve in darkness, the government said Tuesday.

China has so far managed to resume full or partial power service in 148 of the 170 counties and cities blacked out by the snowstorms, the national disaster relief headquarters under the State Council said in a statement.

But power service is not expected to be resumed by 6 p.m. Wednesday, in eight counties, including Guiyang, Jiahe in Hunan Province, Zixi, Lichuan, Yihuang and Le'an in Jiangxi province, Pingtang in Guizhou province and Ziyuan in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Spring Festival, the most important traditional Chinese festival, falls on Thursday this year. But Wednesday evening, the Lunar New Year's Eve, is the most cherished hour for family reunion.

By 6:00 p.m. Monday, 6,785, or 49 percent of the power transmission lines paralyzed by the snowstorm have resumed operation after repair, according to the statement.

Stockpiles of power station coal reached 24.06 million tons on Sunday, up 2.99 million tons from the low level on Jan. 28, Tan Rongyao, supervisor of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission(SERC), said Tuesday.

The increasing power coal reserves have helped to cut the shortfall in power generating nationwide to 12.26 million kilowatts from 39.97 million kilowatts, according to the SERC.

The coal shortage, however, meant that only 36.23 million kilowatts of power generating capacity was available on Tuesday, 990,000 kilowatts less than a day ago.

The worst-hit provinces of Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi have restored 53 percent, 53 percent, and 60 percent respectively of their normal electrical loads by repairing power transmission wires paralyzed by blizzards and a deep freeze, Tan added.

"It shows the efforts to guarantee coal and power supply have yielded initial results," Zhou Dabing, general manager of the leading power producer China Guodian Corporation, said.

The severe weather has stranded million of passengers eager to go back home for the Lunar New Year, the most important traditional festival in China, and caused blackouts in a large swathe of the country's southern, central and eastern regions.

The snow havoc also has so far killed more than 80 people, toppled 300,000 homes, damaged 90 million hectares of crops, and resulted in direct economic losses of about 80 billion yuan (11 billion U.S. dollars) in 19 provinces and regions, according to the Red Cross Society of China.

China's rail, highway and air transport systems are returning gradually to normal as the snowstorm eases, but millions of people are still being left in the cold and dark.

Chenzhou, a city hardest-hit by the snowstorm in the central province of Hunan, was not expected to get electricity supplies restored soon. Its four million residents have been left without electricity and tap water for 11 days.

The State Council ordered local government to step up precautions against potential geological disasters, environmental pollution, public health incidents, and transport accidents in thewake of the disastrous weather.

Meanwhile, Chinese vice-premier Hui Liangyu paid a visit to the central meteorological station Tuesday, where he urged all meteorological services to closely monitor the weather and improve their forecasts to guide disaster prevention and relief efforts.