Photo taken on Dec. 24, 2019 shows a shovel clearing the road covered by snow in Urad Middle Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Ten days of continuous snowfall has left 2.8 million hectares of grassland in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region buried in deep snow, affecting herdsmen and their livestock. (Xinhua/Li Yunping)
HOHHOT, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Ten days of continuous snowfall has left 2.8 million hectares of grassland in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region buried in deep snow, affecting herdsmen and their livestock.
The agriculture and animal husbandry bureau of Bayan Nur City said on Wednesday that the snow-hit area accounted for 59 percent of the city's grassland area, with 11,174 rural households and more than 1.8 million livestock affected.
The bureau has received reports that the snowstorm has left 1,244 livestock dead, and caused a direct economic loss of 40.36 million yuan (5.7 million U.S. dollars) to herdsmen.
Around 15 cm of snow piled up in the pastoral area, disrupting traffic and damaging sheds and agricultural facilities.
"We have more than 200 tonnes of corn and 200 tonnes of forage grass in storage, which is only enough to feed the livestock for one week," said Uyun Dalai, town chief of Wengeng in the city.
He said herdsmen are clearing snow in a bid to open blocked roads.
The city government has launched an emergency response, sending rescuers to help farmers and herdsmen to repair damaged facilities and salvage livestock.
The city government has appropriated 14.84 million yuan in emergency funds and sent 27,000 tonnes of forage to the disaster-hit area.
