Nearly 50 centimeters of snow fell over two days in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province to turn the city into a winter wonderland. The heavy snow broke a record set 54 years ago and paralyzed traffic.

Heavy snow blanketed Shijiazhuang, capital of North China's Hebei Province, for a second day and paralyzed all transport, provincial authorities said Wednesday.

Meteorological officials said the city recorded 7.44 centimeters of precipitation in the 24 hours till 6 am Wednesday, with the accumulated snow 48 centimeters thick in most areas.

It was the heaviest snowfall in the city since 1955 when the city began to make meteorological records, reports said.

There was little traffic on roads in the city, and pedestrians struggled through knee-high snow. The city's education authority issued a notice Tuesday night, asking all high and primary schools to suspend classes Wednesday.

A total of 24 flights were canceled, 21 were delayed and only three flights arrived at the Shijiazhuang Airport as of Wednesday evening. The CZ6953 flight to Urumqi in northwestern China took off at 4:29 pm, the first outgoing flight since the snowfall on Tuesday.

The local sections of six expressways traversing the city, including the Beijing-Shijiazhuang, Zhangjiakou-Shijiazhuang, Qingdao-Yinchuan and Shijiazhuang-Huanghua expressways, were closed.

One person was killed, 68 vegetable greenhouses collapsed and more than 20 wares and factory buildings fell down due to the snow, according to a government press conference Wednesday.

Meteorologists said light snow is continuing and heavier snow is expected late Wednesday, but snow was not heavy in other parts of Hebei, they said.

Snow also hit Beijing and Tianjin, Shanxi Province and Ningxia and Xinjiang autono-mous regions Tuesday.