A severe sandstorm has swept across Kashgar Prefecture in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. These are not computer-generated scenes for Hollywood thrillers. This is the fury of nature. On Monday, walls of packed sand fell over on people from as high as 100 meters. Visibility was reduced to arm's length at most.

The local meteorological authorities issued an orange alert, the second-highest level. The sandstorm lasted nearly 4 hours. Weather conditions have returned to normal.