Workers are stuck in buses heading for Xibaipo Power Plant in Pingshan county due to heavy snowfall on Jan 22, 2016. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Shijiazhuang was hit by a heavy snowfall on Friday morning, leaving an accumulation of about five centimeters. Commuters like Li, whose bus had to take alternative roads to Pingshan, took hours to arrive at their destinations.

The Xibaipo plant, which supplies power and heating to local residents, must be staffed so electricity and heat can be provided to residents.

"It never shuts down during bad weather and we have to go to work no matter how bad the weather is, " Li said.

Li Sen, a shift worker at another power plant in Jingxing county of Shijiazhuang, said on Friday morning that he couldn't go home from a night shift because the snow had cut off the mountain roads.

"The day shift cannot come to work either, so we have to continue working," Li Sen said.