This is the dramatic moment playing children are suddenly hit by a deluge of snow after it slides off a nearby roof and lands on top of them.

The footage shows at least five children playing in the snow outside a house near the city of Enshi in Hubei Province in central China on Friday, 4th February.

One of them appears to shout loudly, and suddenly, a rumbling sound can be heard. A split second later, a deluge of snow falls off a nearby roof, and the kids scramble to get out of the way.

But one of the children, a little girl, does not manage to get out of the way in time and she appears to be hit by the snow, which knocks her off her feet.

After the snow has finished falling off the roof, some of the children appear to laugh in relief, but the little girl begins to cry.

The other children then stop laughing as a woman is seen emerging into shot, alerted by the crying girl.

An apparently slightly older boy in an orange jacket can also be seen crying and is seen being comforted by his peers before another woman emerges and tends to him.

Other adults also appear and check if any of the children have been injured. As the children cry, the rumbling sound can be heard again, and the adults look up in fear towards the roof, but this time no snow falls off.

The injured little girl reportedly only suffered mild abrasions, and the other child was uninjured.