HARBIN, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Over 10,000 residents joined a city-wide de-icing campaign over the weekend after a rare spell of rain froze roads in Heihe, which faces Russian city of Blagoveshchensk across the Heilongjiang River.

The legion of volunteers and government workers hit the roads in the city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, carrying salt, shovels, axes and even kitchen knives to remove the icing which paralyzed the traffic around the city.

Friday evening's rainfall left more than 2,300 km of roads in Heihe coated with ice, crippling the city's bus network and prompting the mayor to call for all government units, social groups and community workers to remove the ice and help the needy.

Answering the call, many residents braved freezing temperatures of minus 22 degrees Celsius to spread salt to melt ice on the roads while calling out to pedestrians to mind their step.

The city government said together with 160 groups of over 10,000 volunteers, over 1,100 people from the urban management system and 400 police officers joined the "Action De-icing," which continued into Monday. Enditem

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