Pollution disrupts sports, travel in China

[Untouchables]

Pollution disrupts sports, travel in China

AP October 6, 2013, 8:39 pm

Sports events and holiday travel plans are in chaos in northern China after heavy fog and pollution. AP Sports events and holiday travel plans are in chaos in northern China after heavy fog and pollution.

Fog and pollution has descended on northern China, forcing international golf and tennis players to play in hazardous smog and leading to flight cancellations and road closures as millions of Chinese headed home from a national holiday.

On Beijing's biggest weekend of the year for sports so far, spectators at the China Open tennis tournament and an inaugural ladies golf tournament pulled their shirts up over their faces and used masks and bandanas to try to avoid the noxious air.

At the Reignwood LPGA Classic, the first Ladies Professional Golf Association event held in China, golf tee times were delayed to allow some of it to dissipate, but many players, including Germany's Sandra Gal, still donned masks.

In another part of the city, spectators were also uneasy on the final day of the China Open, where the world's No. 1 and 2 players, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, were due to play each other in the final on Sunday afternoon.

In some areas of Beijing, visibility dropped to less than 500 metres on Saturday night and Sunday morning, according to China's National Meteorological Centre.

It said the haze hanging over a large area of northern China, including Hebei province which neighbours Beijing and the port city of Tianjin would persist until Monday afternoon.

The oppressive smog in the capital sparked a high pollution alert from the US Embassy, which monitors air quality.

In an email to American citizens, it said its readings had averaged more than 300 on its air quality index in the 24 hours beginning Friday evening and more than 400 overnight on Saturday.

Anything over 301 on the US Environmental Protection Agency scale is considered hazardous to health. It recommended people stay indoors and run air purifiers continuously.

The smog came at one of China's peak travel times at the end of the October 1-7 holiday known as Golden Week when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel.

The holiday is characterised anyway by long lines of traffic and delayed journeys, complicated further Sunday by the partial closure, according to state media, of six inter-provincial expressways, including one linking Beijing and Shanghai.

Nearly 30 highways were also restricted around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.

Beijing Capital International Airport said four international flights had been cancelled Sunday morning, including to Mongolia and Russia, while three others had been delayed. Two domestic flights were cancelled and 20 delayed.

The airport said on its microblog at lunchtime that flights were gradually returning to normal and that visibility was more than 800 metres and was expected to increase further to 1000 to 1500 metres during Sunday afternoon.

 

[TrueColors]

Heavy fog closes down China expressways, airports

Xinhua, October 6, 2013

Heavy fog that shrouded most parts of north China Sunday has closed down expressways and several airports, hindering the return of holiday travelers towards the end of the golden week.

In Beijing, heavy smog lasted into the second day Sunday and visibility was under 1,000 meters in the downtown areas.

As of 10 a.m., traffic police authorities had closed down six interprovincial expressways, including roads linking the capital with Harbin in the northeast, Shanghai in the east, as well as Tianjin and Hebei Province.

Beijing's Capital International Airport reported even lower visibility Sunday morning, averaging 250 to 500 meters.

Despite the foggy weather, airport authorities said 159 departing flights had taken off as of 9:30 a.m., accounting for 56 percent of the total planned takeoffs. Thirteen flights had been canceled.

Poor visibility at the airport caused 29 incoming flights to land at airports in neighboring cities and forced another five to return.

Meanwhile, authorities in Tianjin said they had closed down all 14 expressways in the northern municipality amid heavy fog.

In the neighboring Hebei Province, 13 expressways have been closed until visibility improves.

Foggy weather has also affected most parts of Liaoning Province. As of Sunday morning, 15 expressways have been closed down.

In the foggiest industrial city of Anshan, visibility was under 50 meters in some areas and many travelers were forced to postpone their trips.

Sunday is the sixth day of the week-long holiday for China's National Day and large crowds of holidaymakers are heading home from their tours.

The foggy weather has wreaked more havoc on the road, as expressways, that open for free during the holiday, are already under heavy pressure.