For some 20,000 Beijing cleaners, the New Year holiday was abruptly cut short at about 3 am yesterday, when heavy snow started blanketing the capital's streets.

Li Xiangdong, a Beijing municipal environmental management official, said 492 deicing snow vehicles and 771 back up vehicles, besides more than 10,000 tons of snow-melting chemicals, had been prepared to deal with snowfall this winter.

Saying that heavy snowfall was likely to continue, Li urged other departments to brace up for a "snow clearing campaign" on the first working day after the New Year break.