With the strongest cold wave in decades headed across China, local governments are sending 24-hour patrols to the streets to help homeless people.

A rescue station at Bengbu, Anhui province, prepared 200 quilts and 100 sets of heavy clothes, along with some food items, and planned to look for needy people on the streets over the weekend.

"We will take homeless people and beggars to the rescue station," said Yu Guo, deputy director of the station. "For those who don't want to stay at the rescue station, we'll give them a quilt and clothes to protect against the deadly cold."

The Civil Affairs Bureau in Hefei, Anhui province, is also making preparations to help the homeless.

"We found two homeless people living under a road crossing on Wednesday night," said Zhan Shaobo, and official at the civil affairs bureau of Hefei's?Luyang district. "One is about 50 years old and from Sichuan province - a garbage collector; another is about 40 years old and from Jiangxi province. We have checked their identities and sent them back to their hometowns."

"We have prepared 300 quilts, 300 sets of clothes and 100 hats for homeless people," Zhan said.

Shanghai has also set up temporary shelters, signs, clothes and other ways of helping homeless people through the weather. Teams from civil affairs, public security and city administration branches have joined the hunt for the homeless.

The city has also informed the general public about the rescue stations.

Wang Ying in Shanghai contributed to this story.

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