Heavy snow since Monday has crippled parts of central China's Hubei Province, disrupting the lives of 878,000 people and causing 1,002 houses to collapse, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

 

By 8 a.m. Tuesday, the depth of snow in ten seriously affected cities and counties in southeast Hubei, including Wuhan, the provincial capital, was five to ten centimeters. In some mountainous regions, the depth even reached 30 centimeters.

 

Two people in the Yingshan County were seriously injured and rushed to hospital, but no information about their conditions was released.

 

Another 2,424 houses were reportedly damaged in the snow and many roads were cut off, communication networks were down and power supplies were disrupted.

 

The government of Wuhan has allocated 1.7 million yuan (US$210,000) to reparations.

 

The snowfall is abating, according to local sources.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2007)