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CHINA-WEATHER-SANDSTORM
Northwest China hit by sandstorm as Beijing is smothered in smog
BEIJING, Nov 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A northwest Chinese city was engulfed by
a massive sandstorm that sparked rural fires, forced traffic to slow down and
prompted residents to cover their faces, according to state media.
Video from state broadcaster CCTV showed a grey wall of sand hitting
Zhangye City in Gansu province on Sunday, casting a yellow fog across the
city.
Images from official news agency Xinhua showed residents covering their
faces in scarves as they went about their daily lives.
Visibility went below 100 metres (328 feet) in parts of the city and police
were deployed to ensure safety along the expressways, CCTV said.
Vehicles were made to slow down and police in high visibility vests were
seen directing traffic.
Winds also sparked fires in rural areas when heating kindle was blown onto
haystacks.
Authorities in the city also put out an advisory warning of dry weather and
a risk of fire, telling residents to “take precautions”.
Such storms regularly occur in the dry season, when winds blow loose, dry
soil and sand into urban areas from the Gobi desert, coating cities in a
layer of yellow grime.
While the northwest faced a sandstorm, Beijing was on Monday shrouded in a
thick smog that prompted many to wear protective face masks.
Levels of small particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, hovered around 360 in
the afternoon, according to air quality monitoring website aqicn.org, or
nearly 15 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum
exposure.
According to Xinhua, a sandstorm is also forecast to be hitting Beijing
from the northwest.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1510 hrs