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| People try to control their umbrellas in the wind as they pass by the south gate of the Forbbiden City Sunday at midday. Photo: Li Hao/GT |
Beijing Meteorological Bureau downgraded its blizzard storm warning Sunday, after the capital was lashed by winds of up to 38 kilometers per hour, and rain, sleet and snowwhich lasted for over 40 hours in some outlying areas of the capital.
Beijing issued an orange alert, the second highest weather warning on the four-tier color coded system Sunday morning, but this was reduced to blue, the lowest level, at 11.50 am Sunday morning, and lifted entirely at 4.45 pm.
By 10 am Sunday, the capital saw an average daily precipitation of over 58 mm, a post-1951 record for the city during the November to March winter season, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Beijing Municipal Security Bureau said Saturday via microblog that a traffic plan had been put into action to ensure city streets remained unclogged, and 7,000 traffic officers were deployed.
However, a four-kilometer stretch of the Beijing-Tibet highway in Yanqing county, near the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which also saw some of the heaviest snowfalls, was blocked, according to chinanews.cn. Over 1,000 vehicles were trapped, but the drivers and passengers were taken to safety in Yanqing county town, said the report.
The Beijing Armed Force dispatched 300 soldiers Sunday morning to help shift the snow and rescue the victims. Xinhua reported.
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