Travel chaos after snowstorm hits NE China

A man shovels snow on a street in Shenyang, Liaoning province, Dec 3, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua] More photos

SHENYANG - Snowstorms caused travel chaos Monday with expressways in northeast China's Liaoning province forced to close and passenger ships departing from the port city of Dalian suspended.

As of 4 p.m., more than 11,000 passenger buses were suspended due to the disruption on the expressways, provincial highways as well as the rural roads, according to the provincial transportation department.

Passenger ships sailing from the Dalian port to the island county of Changhai and east China's Shandong province were all suspended due to the gales, the department said.

Xiantao International Airport, which was closed Monday morning, resumed service at 2 p.m..

The Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway, which started operation on Saturday linking three provinces in the northeast China region, was not affected by the weather.

The snow stopped as of Monday afternoon with plunging temperatures all over the province, according to the provincial meteorological bureau.