Deaths, travel disruption as bitter cold grips Asia

Record low temperatures have wreaked havoc in several Asia countries, with 85 people reported dead in Taiwan and tens of thousands stranded at airports because of the unprecedented cold snap.

In South Korea, at least 90,300 saw their flights canceled over the weekend due to bad weather and more than 10,000 travelers faced severe delays at Kunming airport in southwestern China.

Taiwan authorities advised people to stay indoors after the deaths, while in Hong Kong, teeth-chattering temperatures forced kindergartens and primary schools to shut Monday.

China renewed an orange alert, its second most serious weather warning, with major highways blocked by snow and sleet just as peak travel season for the Lunar New Year vacation kicks off.

South Korea

An estimated 90,300 people were stranded on the southern island of Jeju, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and around 1,400 people are staying in the airport at the moment, authorities said.

Since Saturday about 1,200 flights were canceled although the airport resumed operations as of Monday noon local time.

Its capital Seoul was hit Sunday by the coldest winter in 15 years, with the lowest temperature recorded at minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the country’s Meteorological Administration’s website.

That’s the lowest since January 2001 when the mercury fell to minus 18.6 degrees Celsius (minus 1.48 degrees Fahrenheit), the website’s historical data showed.

China

China renewed its orange alert, its second most serious weather warning on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua said Monday, with at least four deaths reported.

In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the lowest temperatures could reach minus 12 degrees Celsius (10.4 degrees Fahrenheit) from Sunday to Monday, the National Meteorological Center said.

Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces are forecasted to approach or even drop below the lowest levels on record while parts of central and eastern China were 6 to 8 degrees Celsius (11 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than the average historical level.

The worst cold snap in years coincided with the beginning of a 40-day travel rush for Chinese New Year which falls on February 8 this year. Snow and sleet have closed parts of the highway in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

It has also affected air travel with authorities struggling to divert at least 11,229 passengers who have been stranded at Kunming airport since Saturday, Xinhua said.

A person photographs icicles on a fence in Shandong, China on Sunday, January 24, 2016. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that more than 11,000 air passengers were stranded in Kunming, Yunnan.

Two pandas playing in snow inside their enclosure at a zoo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Mountainous areas in the province recorded a historical low temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) on January 24.

A hiker takes a photo of a frozen plant in sub-zero temperatures atop Hong Kong's highest peak on Sunday, January 24. Temperatures plunged to the lowest point in 59 years and frost dusted the mountaintops of a city accustomed to a more subtropical climate.

Hikers walk on icy road in sub-zero temperature on Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong's highest peak on January 24. Many looking for sights of snow and frost in the subtropic city were trapped on the city's highest mountains as a result of iced-over roads and extreme cold.

A man stands at a street-side heater in Seoul on January 21, with the mercury falling to a staggering minus 18 degrees Celsius, or 0 degrees Fahrenheit. More than 90,000 people were stranded on the South Korean resort island of Jeju when its airport was closed for two nights from Saturday because of strong wind and heavy snow.

A motorbike rider falls down on an ice-covered highway in Shaoguan, in China's Guangdong province on January 23.

Commuters walk on a snow covered road in Tokyo on January 18 where heavy snow blanketed the metropolitan area and transportation systems were paralyzed. Many cities throughout western and northern Japan have seen record snow falls, while the usually-warm Okinawa island saw snowfall for the first time ever since record-keeping began in 1966.

A man walks on a snow covered field in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on January 18. The Amami Oshima island, located in the country's southern Kagoshima prefecture, saw snow for the first time in 115 years.

A man removes snow from the forecourt of the Diet building in Tokyo on January 18. Japanese transportation authorities said that over 60 flights were canceled due to heavy snow.

Bitter cold sweeps across Asia

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Hong Kong

The typically subtropical Hong Kong experienced its coldest weather in nearly three decades, leading to the shut down of all kindergartens and primary schools on Monday.

On Sunday, the average minimum temperature dropped to 3.3 degrees Celsius (38 degrees Fahrenheit) over the city, where there is no central heating in most buildings.

Frost tourists hoping to see snow ventured up to the city’s highest peak Tai Mo Shan, where temperatures fell as low as minus 6 degrees Celsius (21.2 degrees Fahrenheit), local media reported. Photos and videos on social media showed sleet on the ground as people slipped and slid along icy mountain roads.

Firefighters had to help over a hundred trapped people at the peaks, 64 of which were sent to the hospital with many exhibiting signs of hypothermia.

“Temperatures on high ground remain below zero degree with icing and frost,” the Hong Kong Observatory warned on Monday morning, adding that the “intense cold surge will continue to affect southern China in the next couple of days.

Taiwan