The forecast of further severe snowstorms came as hundreds of thousands of holiday travellers remained stranded in airports, train stations, and on highways ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Even before the new warning, Premier Wen Jiabao called late Sunday for 'urgent' action to combat blackouts and transport chaos as millions of Chinese struggled to return home for the country's biggest annual holiday.

High death toll
At least a dozen people died at the weekend and thousands were injured in weather-related accidents, state media said, adding to scores of deaths in preceding weeks.

Wen ordered local governments to mobilise all resources to prevent further disasters, focusing special attention on protecting China's energy supplies, with several provinces already rationing electricity.

'Due to the rain, snow and frost, plus increased winter use of coal and electricity and the peak travel season, the job of ensuring coal, electricity and oil supplies and adequate transportation has become quite severe,' Mr Wen said at a cabinet meeting.

He ordered local governments to ensure adequate production and distribution of coal and electricity, and to conserve energy.

'More heavy snow is expected. All government departments must prepare for this increasingly grim situation and urgently take action,' Mr Wen said.

A government official said on Monday the country's stockpile of coal for electricity generation had dropped to 21 million tonnes, less than half normal levels at this time of year, and 17 provinces had started rationing power.

The China Meteorological Administration warned that further heavy snows or freezing rain were expected in nine provinces already suffering from the weather havoc.

Some areas have seen the heaviest snows and coldest temperatures in 50 years.

At least a dozen airports around the country were closed on Monday due to icy conditions, state television said, including those serving provincial capitals Nanjing, Changsha and Wuhan.

An official at Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport told reporters that it also had cancelled all flights as of early afternoon.

Bad timing
The weather woes could not have come at a worse time, with millions of Chinese relying on the country's transport system to get them home for the Lunar New Year festival.

State media said the number of passengers stuck at the train station in the southern city of Guangzhou could swell to 600,000 on Monday after a power failure Saturday night stranded more than 136 electric trains in neighbouring Hunan province.

State television broadcast scenes of teeming crowds massed outside the station and warned food and sanitation facilities were inadequate.

The government hinted that holiday travellers in Guangdong province, where Guangzhou is located, could be in for a long wait.

'Under these circumstances, staying in Guangdong to pass the holiday might not be a bad choice,' said a notice issued by the official China News Service.

Meteorologists said parts of eastern China in particular faced severe snowstorms through on Tuesday, but that the situation should begin to improve later in the week. -- AFP