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Weather creates chaos

A crush of Chinese try to get home for the Lunar New Year.

GUANGZHOU, China - Crowds of frantic Chinese fought for seats Wednesday on the few trains leaving southern China, where the worst winter storms in half a century have crippled the nation's transport system during its busiest travel season.

One desperate mob stormed a city bus in the city of Guangzhou, mistakenly thinking it was taking passengers to the day's last departing trains. They pried open doors and elbowed their way inside as helpless police yelled, "It's not going to the station!"

Hundreds of thousands of stranded Chinese want to get home for Lunar New Year - a holiday that is as important in China as Christmas is in the West. For millions of migrant workers, the festival that begins Feb. 7 is their only vacation from dreary jobs in factories that feed the world's ravenous appetite for DVD players, laptops, shoes and other goods.

China's leaders have deployed more than 450,000 army troops and extra units of police to clear roads and help provide emergency supplies to the millions of stranded travelers, state-run media reported.

The storms have caused dozens of deaths and airport closures. The Civil Affairs Ministry said the storms also have caused economic losses of $3-billion since they began Jan. 10.

Meanwhile, workers kept streaming into Guangzhou, looking like refugees. Police said 7,000 were camping outside the railway station, while 200,000 sought temporary shelter in a massive exhibition center blocks away.

City officials said only 40 trains - half the normal number - were leaving the station each day with a total of 80,000 passengers. The lucky ones riding the trains were those who could find a seat on the 10 city buses shuttling passengers to the station from the mad crush of the emergency shelters.

"I'm really nervous and scared," said He Jingsha, 23, a petite office worker. "These people, they'll push and shove you, treat you like you're not a human being."

But she added with a smile, "But I understand why they do it. It's Chinese New Year!"

By the numbersStorm's impact:

178.6M People expected to travel by train before storms hit.

450,000 Army troops and police deployed to clear roads and help travelers.

200,000 People seeking temporary shelter in an exhibition center in Guangzhou.

[Last modified January 31, 2008, 01:42:55]