A villager carrying his child on his back watches the mudflow in the aftermath of a violent hailstorm and torrential rain that swept through Minxian, in northwestern China's Gansu province, on May 17, 2012.

Forty people were killed when a brief but violent hailstorm and torrential rain swept through a mountainous region of northwestern China on May 12, while 29,300 people were evacuated after rain and hail battered the county.