By Xinhua
Beijing : The melting of snow in the stricken areas of south and east China could lead to a new round of problems, China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said Thursday.
The CMA warned that the snowmelt could trigger disasters like landslides in mountain areas and cause heavy fog in many parts of east China that would affect traffic.
It also said that from Friday to Sunday, most areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River would be sunny to cloudy, while snowfalls are expected in most parts of the northwest.
Heavy snows or even blizzards were likely in southeast Tibet, south Gansu, northern parts of western Sichuan and northwest Yunnan.
Freak winter storms have plagued southern China since mid-January, leading to widespread traffic jams, building collapses, blackouts and loss of standing crops in 19 provinces.
Rail, highway and air transport systems, which had been paralysed by the freezing weather, only began to recover Tuesday. The bad weather forced millions of people to abandon plans of family reunions for the Lunar New Year.
The storms killed more than 80 people, destroyed or damaged 800,000 houses and resulted in loss worth 80 billion yuan (about $11 billion), according to the Red Cross Society of China.