Scores of people have been killed in China due to heavy snows, some of which were artificially created.

The dead included children crushed when the roof of their school canteen fell in under the weight of the snow.

Thousands of homes have also collapsed and half a million acres of crops have been blighted.

By Saturday, officials put the death toll at 40 in north-central China.

According to the civil affairs ministry website most deaths had been caused in traffic accidents.

The snowfall is the heaviest in the northern and central provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan since record keeping began after the establishment of the Communist state in 1949, the ministry said.

It estimates economic losses from the storm of 4.5 billion yuan ($659m).

Chinese state media say some of the snow was induced through cloud seeding.

Hebei blizzards

Hebei's provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, received the heaviest snowfall. In the past three days, the snow accumulation there reached over half a metre, the heaviest since 1955, the China Meteorological Administration said.

More than 7.5 million people have been stranded or otherwise affected by the storms.

State media have reported at least two deaths were caused by the collapse of buildings, including a school cafeteria.

Beijing has been hit by three successive waves of snow, causing havoc on roads and forcing the cancellation or delay of scores of flights.

The capital and surrounding areas are ill prepared to deal with such heavy snow, with few ploughs or road de-icing supplies.

Snow tyres and chains are not used and many drivers simply leave their cars at home and turn to public transport in such conditions.

The impact has been far greater in the surrounding provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan, where highways have been closed, schools shuttered, and crews sent to rescue people from their homes.

PHOTO CAPTION

Workers clean trucks' windshields after heavy snow in Taiyuan, in north China's Shanxi province, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009.

Al-Jazeera