Downpour strands thousands at Chongqing airport

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-17 19:03

CHONGQING -- A downpour with roaring thunders battered southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday, stranding more than 5,000 passengers at the local airport.

Thundershowers started to blow on the mountainous city early Tuesday morning, and precipitation in the downtown area reached 200 millimeters.

By 4:00 p.m., about 240 flights had been affected, and 5,000 passengers were stranded at the Jiangbei International Airport in Chongqing, staff with the airport said.

Several outgoing flights were delayed for more than seven hours. And some incoming flights were forced to land at airports in neighboring Chengdu and Guiyang cities.

The thunderstorm broke a small crack on the airport runway around noon, which was immediately repaired in about a dozen minutes, the staff said.

Meteorologists forecast there would be more thundershowers in the coming two days.