The Chinese transport authorities are preparing for a major travel rush as millions take to the roads and railways at the end of the national “golden week” holiday.
The annual holiday, which ends on Wednesday, is one of the busiest times of the year for travel.
On Monday, the Ministry of Public Security noted that a significant increase in return traffic flow was expected on Tuesday, especially in four megacity clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Chengdu-Chongqing region.
There were no major traffic accidents or reports of large-scale traffic congestion as of Monday night, it added.
The Transport Ministry said it had been coordinating its efforts with local authorities to ensure smooth and safe travel, and ensure there were no major incidents.
It also urged areas that had been affected by extreme weather in recent days to monitor conditions and implement pre-emptive measures to avoid accidents.
The ministry said it had “called on all departments to ensure the safety and efficiency of transport during the holiday season, proactively address major risks and continue responding to the aftermath of [Typhoon Matmo]”.
Matmo made landfall in Guangdong province on Sunday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to large swathes of southern China, as well as shutting down rail and air services in the region.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese are currently travelling across the country during the eight-day national holiday, which combines both China’s National Day on Oct 1 and Monday’s Mid-Autumn Festival.
According to the ministry’s latest figures, more than 291 million domestic trips were made on Sunday – slightly down on the first four days of the holiday, which all saw more than 300 million journeys.
The ministry had previously said it expected to see about 2.36 billion passenger trips nationwide during the eight-day holiday, 80% of which would be made by private vehicles.
It also forecast the highest ever number of domestic and international flights over the period with 19.2 million passenger trips, a 3.6% year-on-year increase.
Local authorities across the country have announced a range of measures to cope with the travel rush.
In the northern city of Tianjin, the authorities are intensifying patrols and inspections on roads, railways and rivers, and have set up 22 temporary charging facilities and 1,100 emergency restrooms at highway service areas.
Meanwhile, the central provinces of Anhui and Hunan both said they were targeting congestion-prone areas.
Anhui said it would pay close attention to any changes in the weather and had plans in place to introduce road closures and diversions, suspend services or evacuate people if necessary.
Meanwhile, Hunan said it had laid on extra bus services, including links to transport hubs.
In coastal areas, operations are gradually resuming after the disruption caused by Typhoon Matmo, which made its second landfall in Guangxi region on Monday and also brought heavy rainfall to Yunnan and Guizhou.
Yunnan also stepped up safety checks for passenger and tourist boats in the wake of the typhoon and issued a series of weather risk alerts.
Meanwhile, in the eastern province of Shandong, the authorities stepped up nighttime patrols on busy waterways to avoid collisions between commercial and fishing vessels.
The most serious incidents recorded during the holiday so far have been the blizzard that stranded hundreds of hikers at high altitude over the weekend, killing at least one person in Qinghai province, and a fatal accident at a disused mine.
In Tibet 350 people have been guided to safety following the sudden snowstorm, while rescuers said they were in contact with a further 200 people, all of whom were expected to be safely returned, official media reported on Monday.
Meanwhile, five people who entered a disused mine in Youxi county in the southwestern province of Fujian were confirmed dead on Sunday.