Tibetan snowstorm by Alex Deakin
At least nine people have died in what’s been described as one of the worst snowstorms in living memory across Tibet’s Autonomous region.
Heavy snow fell for more than 36 consecutive hours earlier in the week averaging snow coverage of 1.5 meters, with drifts up to three meters in places. Many people were either frozen to death or crushed by buildings which collapsed from the sheer weight of the snow.
The clean up operation is still ongoing and rescuers in Lhokha’s County, proceeded to search for thousands of people stranded by damaged buildings and blocked roads. Telecommunications were knocked out across the region and more 140,000 head of livestock perished in the cold.
The snowstorm event was attributed to an area of low pressure which developed over the Bay of Bengal and drifted north towards the Himalayas. Heavy rain associated with the low quickly turned into heavy snow across the Tibetan region as it collided with a cold air mass. Although heavy snow is not an uncommon event in Tibet, a snowstorm this severe was fairly unusual this early in the season.
