Heavy snowfalls in China's Beijing have disrupted road traffic, forced the central airport to cancel over 750 flights and suspend classes in primary and middle schools, Xinhua news agency reported.
"Low temperature and ice-covered roads are expected to severely affect local traffic on Monday morning," the agency quoted Song Jianguo, the head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, as saying.
He said that the authorities have deployed some 7,000 policemen to patrol the main roads of the country's capital and over 5,000 volunteers to control overcrowded bus stops, while a total of 300 additional buses were dispatched to densely populated areas of the city.
The Capital International Airport in Beijing has delayed 491 and cancelled 756 flights, as the airport's management left operational only one of three runways.
The National Meteorological Center said that the snowfall in Beijing has already set a daily record since 1951.
Meteorologists say that in the next two days the temperature will fall to -16 Celsius (3.2 Fahrenheit), which is the lowest since 1980s.
BEIJING, January 4 (RIA Novosti)
