China has warned the worst is not over in its national weather crisis as desperate holiday travellers jammed transport hubs and others endured bitter winter storms without power or water.
Bracing for still more freezing weather and an accelerating travel rush, China has doubled the number of troops and paramilitary forces aiding winter storm relief efforts to more than a million.
The worst winter in five decades has caused massive transport bottlenecks and power outages across huge areas in the lead-up to next week's Lunar New Year, China's biggest annual holiday by far.
'The most difficult period is still not over yet. The situation remains grim,' Premier Wen Jiabao said.
The government also repeated a plea to millions of people to shelve their travel plans as the country entered the peak holiday travel period, with New Year celebrations beginning on 7 February.
In the southern city of Guangzhou, about 2,000 police struggled to hold back hundreds of thousands of people who have gathered every day for a week outside the main railway station, surging forward at the merest hint of an opening to a train platform.
Airports in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanchang and Changsha, which had reopened, were forced into a new round of flight cancellations and delays today as they de-iced planes.
