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Travelers in China's eastern and northern regions who were on their journey back to work after the Spring Festival experienced great inconveniences on the road Wednesday due to snowstorms.
According to the National Meteorological Center snow began to fall in regions including Henan, Heber, Ningxia, Shanxi and Shaanxi on Tuesday.
China's northern regions are expected to have continued snowstorms which will soon affect the eastern and central provinces including Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the statement issued by the center.
Affected provinces are expected to get 16 cm of snow, the report said.
All the highways in Hebei's four major cities as well as most of the highways in Henan province which were covered with ice and therefore slippery were closed to vehicular traffic because they were unsafe for road travel.
Highways in other snowstorm affected areas like Hubei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong were likewise closed to vehicular traffic due to safety risks.
Despite the resumption of work on Friday, many have chosen to extend their stay with their families and delay their trip back to work because of the heavy snowfall.
Even train companies have suspended their operations in affected areas and as heavy snowfall persists no date has been given as to when they will resume operation.
High-speed trains that travel through certain snowstorm affected areas like those running through Beijing and Shanghai and through Beijing and Guangdong's capital, Guangzhou are only allowed travel at not more than 200 km per hour to avoid possible accidents.
A yellow alert has been issued by the National Meteorological Center for the blizzards that are expected. Alerts issued by the center can be rated as blue, yellow, orange and red with red as the most serious and blue as the least severe.
