New Delhi, September 4 – The Sichuan-Tibet highway in southwest China re-opened to traffic today after four days of roadblock due to heavy downpour over the past two weeks, China’s official media Xinhua reported.
Small vehicles could travel easily on the highway, but large vehicles had to wait until the road dried, Li Xiping, a traffic police officer in charge of the project told Xinhua.
Heavy rain lashed Nyingchi Prefecture over the past two weeks, which caused a mudflow to block a river near the road linking Tibet with the neighboring Sichuan Province on Saturday.
The rising water washed away the roadbed, resulting in the collapse of a 30-meter section of the road causing the traffic to stop.
More than 120 soldiers worked to create a new road on Tuesday, with about 50 m of the planned 100 m emergency road completed.
The rain stopped at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
August is a particularly wet month in Tibet. Rain in the mountainous region was up 30 percent in the first half of 2008 compared with normal levels, creating risks for road use and maintenance.
