Heavy snow has killed 8,160 cattle in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region this month, local authorities said.

Photo taken on February 18, 2009 shows the heavy snow in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Low temperatures and avalanches after four snowfalls in Yili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture had killed the cattle, Yu Donghua, a prefecture husbandry and veterinary bureau official, said Monday.

In total, 891 houses and 435 cattle sheds collapsed in the snow and 3,531 houses were at risk, he said.

"Although the continuous snow has alleviated the drought, it is a disaster for cattle during the calving period," he said.

The Yili prefecture government has relocated 1,420 households and 38,814 cattle to safe areas and allocated 170,000 tonnes of fodder and feed to the snow-hit areas.

Precipitation in February was 52 percent more than average for the month, said Gao Minghua, head of the Yili Prefecture Observatory.

The snow that began Friday night lasted 26 hours and was as deep as 40 cm in the mountainous region, he said.

Heavy snowfall is expected to hit Yili in the next three days, according to the observatory.