Weather problems for vacationers in China Spring Festival plans are disrupted by freezing rain and snow.

Ahead of the Spring Festival, Central and Eastern China experiences severe weather that causes train cancellations and highway closures during the peak travel season.Traffic in central and eastern China has been hampered by freezing rain, snow, and ice as billions of people make their way home in advance of the Spring Festival holiday. The country has been hit with bitter cold over the past week.The worst of the terrible weather, which intensified over the weekend and caused hundreds of train cancellations and slowdowns on the highway, fell primarily on the provinces of Hunan and Hubei.The impediments to travel occur during the world's largest mass migration, as millions of people return home to celebrate the Chinese New Year with their relatives.Videos that surfaced on Chinese social media in recent days featured individuals stuck in automobiles or on trains on snow-covered roadways in a number of locations, including Jingzhou.Business site Yicai said on Monday that a motorist was stranded in an automobile for three days, while social media footage revealed that a passenger traveling to Wuhan was stuck on a train due to a power outage during extremely cold conditions.Many passengers were left stranded at Wuhan train stations as hundreds of trains were either canceled or delayed, according to local media.

Tuesday, state television CCTV reported that the runways at Wuhan's Tianhe Airport were briefly blocked.Images from the China Meteorological Administration showed frozen rain-felled trees in Hunan, scattering over roads with broken and bent branches. Beijing News reported that approximately 129 highway sections were stopped in 10 regions.Snow-related incidents have claimed the lives of at least two persons. Awnings in farmers markets fell under the weight of deep snow, killing one person in Hubei and another in the southern province of Hunan, official media reported.China National Emergency Broadcasting states that more severe weather is predicted for a few days. Weather advisories and emergency response protocols were updated in a number of cities.Hubei authorities stated that their goal was to eliminate choke points caused by thick ice from tunnels and bridges. Hundreds of highway toll stations have received orders from the province to implement traffic control measures, such as granting free passage to vehicles. The first part of this week in the south is expected to bring more rain, snow, and freezing temperatures, according to China's Central Meteorological Observatory. However, conditions are expected to improve starting on Thursday.