Heavy Snow Causes School & Highway Closures in Heilongjiang Northeast China

Hei Longjiang's is having its longest and heaviest bout of snow this year. Fuyuan county is one of the worst-hit areas in the province. Armed police and maintenance teams have been working around the clock to dig out the roads from under all the snow.

"I have been working since midnight last night. My colleagues have shoveled snow off the road and into large piles, and now our job is to move these piles away and clear the roads. I haven't got time for lunch. All we want is for the traffic to resume," said a sanitation worker named Wang Xuelei.

Fuyuan county is one of the worst-hit areas in the province. Armed police and maintenance   teams have been working around the clock to dig out the roads from under all the snow.

Fuyuan county is one of the worst-hit areas in the province. Armed police and maintenance teams have been working around the clock to dig out the roads from under all the snow.

Many locals have volunteered their help.

"I woke up at five this morning and offered my help. The snow reached waist height and people are not able to go to work," said a resident named Kong Fanjun.

"After two or three hours, we only cleared a narrow path. It is still snowing heavily, so wherever is clearer now, in a while you’ll have to do it all over again," said a resident named Fan Kangyi.

Police had to come to the rescue of one farmer and his 100 or so sheep from a near-collapsing sheep-shed.

There are other problems lurking in the snow. A Siberian tiger was spotted very close to  Fuyuan County. It has been identified as the tiger Ustin, that was released into the wild by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June. With its forest hunting grounds also blanketed by snow, Ustin is presumably scouting for food.

"I saw a huge tiger by the road. It has a collar on its neck. I took a few pictures and recorded a short video," said Wang Jiannan, Fuyuan County armed police.

The Central Meteorological Bureau says that after more than 60 hours of continuous snowfall, snow in Heilongjiang will lighten on Thursday and Friday and eventually stop on Saturday.