3:12pm UK, Tuesday January 19, 2010

David Williams, Sky News Online

Four people have died and more than 1.6 million have been affected by blizzards and extreme cold weather in northwestern China.

Thousands of travellers have been left stranded as snowstorms closed major roads and delayed flights amid the harshest winter in decades.

More than 4,000 passengers were stalled as 122 flights were affected in the capital of Xinjiang region, Urumqi.

A further 1,000 motorists were halted as nine avalanches blocked roads across the region – where snow was up to 94cm (3ft) deep.

Rescue workers have begun evacuating thousands of residents in rural areas to safer ground amid the latest storm front.

Around 100,000 homes in Xinjiang have been flattened or damaged and more than 15,000 livestock killed since the weather worsened on Sunday night.

The severe snap is expected to last through Wednesday and plunge temperatures as low as -43C.

Emergency transport efforts have been in effect in Mongolia

An appeal for international help has been made in neighbouring Mongolia – which is experiencing its most severe winter for 30 years.

“Though the government and the population at large are doing their best, the severity and the duration of such extreme weather could overwhelm our capacity and resources,” the minister of foreign affairs and trade Zandanshatar Gombojav said.

Mongolia needs emergency supplies including warm clothing, generators, heating devices and first aid kits, he added.

The 1.6 million affected in China’s North West have suffered property damage, faced power and supply shortages or been stranded by snow drifts and icy roads.

Already this month, Beijing has already experienced its heaviest one-day snowfall in 59 years. Temperatures in the capital were due to rise above freezing this week.