The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Shaoguan

Emergency crews struggled on Saturday to restore power to parts of southern China blacked out for a week by heavy snow as forecasters warned of no quick end to the worst winter weather in 50 years.

Mobilizing the might of the state, China has deployed more than 300,000 troops and nearly 1.1 million militia and army reservists to get traffic moving and ensure power supplies, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The freak weather, which has killed at least 60 people and doomed millions to a cold, dark Lunar New Year holiday, could last another week, the Central Meteorological Station said on Saturday.

Repair teams were racing to bring power to Chenzhou, a city of 4 million in the southern province of Hunan, which has been without electricity for eight days. The town's stocks of food and petrol are running low.

"We will strive to partially restore electricity supply in Chenzhou on Saturday," Xinhua quoted Yin Jijun, an official with China's national grid, as saying.

About 5,000 workers have been mending frozen power lines leading to Chenzhou, with some soldiers firing submachine guns to shatter ice cloaking the cables, according to Xinhua. It said two repair workers had been killed.