East Inner Mongolia battered by blizzard

As extreme weather continues to batter the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, snowfall in some areas has broken records held for 50 years, blocking roads and expressways and putting the livelihoods of local herdsmen on the line.

53 year old Hasi has never seen this much snow in his life.

The snow overwhelmed his yard and almost buried his house. And yet his biggest concern is the livestock.

"No buyers are able to come if I sell them for slaughter," He says. "In the past years I didn't even have to feed them myself, there was grass on the hills."

He now feeds the livestock just twice a day, but his grass stocks are running out. He says he only has enough to sustain them for one month.

And with the roads continuing to be blocked, it's difficult to get necessities from town.

This eight lane highway is almost paraylyzed by ice.

"I can only hit 20 to 30 kilometers per hour."

Since the first blizzard hit here one month ago, precipitation has reached nearly half a meter, damaging more than 100 villages.

Dun Pingfang, Director of Balinyouqi Civil Affairs Bureau, said, "According to our preliminary estimates, 120 thousand people have been affected, 247 houses have collpased, more than 3-thousand heads of livestock have died, causing economic losses of nearly 100 million yuan."

On this national highway, the blizzard shows no signs of letting up.

"My car broke down yesterday. At night government workers came and took me downtown."

This man couldn't help thanking the rescue workers.

So far, more than 20 vehicles have been retrieved as the rescue work continues. Meanwhile in the villages, 43 households of herdsmen have been relocated.