Official propaganda has painted a picture of a heroic response to weeks of deadly cold and subsequent transport paralysis.

But people in this stressed-out city in central Hunan province say the government fiddled as the situation mounted, contributing to the crisis.

"If the (local government) had moved in a timely manner to get rid of the ice and snow on the highways, the traffic might not have been cut off completely like this," said Huang Qiuhua, one of thousands of travellers stranded in the city's train station after his train was cancelled.

The worst winter weather in 50 years has caused power outages and transport gridlock just as millions were trying to return to home provinces for new year holidays.

The freeze began on January 10 but it took the government until this week to take drastic steps such as mobilising the army to help relief efforts.

Such delays made a mockery of past vows -- made after such crises as the 2003 SARS respiratory disease outbreak -- to improve emergency response systems, Huang, 35, told AFP.

"The emergency response system they claim has been built up after the SARS crisis appears to be not working very efficiently," said Huang, a businessman who was trying to return home to southern Guangdong province.

"Official weather forecasts also have been inaccurate and that's one of the main reasons for the poor reaction by the government."

China's state media provided lavish coverage of Premier Wen Jiabao's trip earlier this week to Hunan and Guangdong provinces, where he apologised to stranded travellers and played up response efforts.

But Li Xiangxiang, a 23-year-old employee in a Changsha bookstore, echoed the sentiments of many in branding the visit a cynical propaganda stunt.

"It wasn't until Premier Wen came that people were sent on to streets to clean off the snow. They stopped once the big leader left," she told AFP while shopping for suddenly scarce vegetables.

"(Local authorities) should have prepared for such situations earlier and not wait until the Premier came."

Changsha and other areas of Hunan province have been hit particularly hard by the extreme weather, which has wrecked the travel plans of tens of thousands of people.

Now, food price inflation, which was already near historic highs, is soaring due to the weather despite promises by Beijing that it would be kept in check, she said.

The prices of some vegetables were up fivefold, she said, adding: "The government is not supervising this and they need to step it up."

For some, the situation did not bode well for China's vow to organise a successful Beijing Olympics in August.

"The government should deploy more people from the armies to help out and restore the electricity," said Zhang Yongfang, a 32-year-old computer shop manager who was stuck at the main train station in the southern city of Guangzhou.

"We have to be able to deal with this properly to demonstrate that we can also deal with big events like the Olympics this year."

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