Blizzards in China's northeast ground flights, force school closures

Unseasonably cold weather and blizzards hit northeast China on Monday, forcing hundreds of flights to be rescheduled and closing schools as several cities issued heightened weather alerts and warned people to stay indoors. With snowfall of as much as 25 cm, over 90% of expressway entrances in Jilin province had been closed as of 7 p.m. (1100GMT), state television CCTV said. In the country's northernmost province Heilongjiang, the local railway operator halted 51 passenger lines over safety concerns. A gymnasium in Heilongjiang's Jiamusi city collapsed, trapping three inside, according to CCTV. State-run Jimu News said there were children at the venue at the time of the incident. It is unclear if the collapse was related to the snowfall, the report said. A rescue operation is underway. Schools, kindergartens, and off-campus training institutions in most parts of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, will remain suspended on Tuesday, after they were cancelled on Monday, CCTV said. China's national weather forecaster renewed its orange blizzard alert - the second highest tier of its color-coded warning system - at 6 p.m, as more snow is expected from Monday night to Tuesday in parts of Jilin and Heilongjiang. Earlier on Monday, 405 flights were cancelled at Harbin Taiping International Airport, according to data from third-party travel app Flight Master. Many flights were also cancelled in Jilin and Liaoning provinces, and in the Inner Mongolia region, Flight Master showed.<br/>