Snowfall shuts down power in outskirt Beijing

Beijing has been hit hard by its first snowfall of the year. In the suburban county of Yanqing, residents saw the heaviest snowfall in over half a century, after the blizzard blocked traffic and disrupted power and water supply networks. Agriculture also suffered damage from the cold weather.

The worst blizzard in 5 decades - That's what people in Yanqing county experienced over the weekend, with some areas being buried under more than 70 millimetres of snow.

Power lines were the first to report damage. On Sunday, 15 high volt power lines reported failures, affecting 7900 residents. The power out also had a ripple effect, disrupting water supplies to nearly 2000 people. Another 1000 people found their central heating had stopped.

To combat the unexpected blizzard, local authorities launched emergency measures, solving most of the problems by Monday.

One group of volunteers, composing mostly of college students, started clearing snow along the roads at four o'clock in the morning.

All public schools in Yanqing were kept closed on Monday due to safety concerns. Now the focus is on ensuring the region's agriculture sector can recover as soon as possible. Authorities have estimated economic losses due to the blizzard at more than 260 million yuan.