A man shovels ice on a satellite receiver in Ziyuan county, Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Jan 5, 2011. [Xinhua]

In Hunan's Xiangxi and Huaihua, nearly all coach bus services have been suspended as it is increasingly risky to drive on the icy, slippery roads. On National Highway No. 319 that zigzags through the western parts of the province, toppled vehicles and stranded passengers can be seen nearly every kilometer.

By Wednesday morning, traffic in 22 sections of 15 national and provincial highways in Hunan was interrupted, while 23 highways had reopened after they were closed due to dangerous road conditions.

Also, the provincial electric power company said 139 major electric transmitting cables in Hunan had been coated by ice with a maximum thickness of 12 millimeters.

Although there was no need to artificially dissolve the ice at present, the company has organized 18 emergency teams of over 4,000 workers to await orders.

In Chongqing, the cold snap wreaked even more havoc by freezing 285 km of tap water pipeline in Youyang County Wednesday, cutting water supplies to 85,000 residents, a county government spokesman said.

A resident surnamed Wu said he had to carry water from a well 2 km from his home.

The average temperature has been below freezing in 39 villages and townships in Youyang County since Jan. 1. The bitter cold has put pressure on the local power supply network as more residents have turned on air conditioners and electric heaters for warmth. Coal and natural gas-fueled central heating is present only in northern China, as the southern provinces are traditionally believed to be much warmer than the northern region.

But Chongqing's Wulong County, another seriously battered mountain town, was covered with an average 2 centimeters of ice.

"It's really a bad start to the New Year," said Xu Xinquan, a farmer who grows vegetables in Yangliu village. "At least for this season, my family will loose 6,000 yuan in the field."

The National Meteorological Center said on its website Wednesday the cold snap was likely to continue for at least another week.

The regional weather bureau of Guangxi warned the bitter cold would last 10 days, with rain, sleet and snow in most parts of the region and the mercury remaining below zero.

The cold snap would also persist in Chongqing, with the temperature expected to drop Thursday and again next Monday, said Liu De, the municipal weather bureau chief.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said Wednesday that icy weather and sleet have disrupted the lives of more than 3.83 million people in Jiangxi, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou regions since Saturday.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the freezing weather had left one person dead and forced the evacuation of about 58,000 residents in these regions.

Economic losses are estimated at 1.35 billion yuan (about 204 million U.S. dollars).