High winds are sweeping millions of tons of red dust from Australia’s drought-ravaged interior, causing a red hued dust storm in Sydney.
Australia’s worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast Wednesday in a cloud of red Outback grit, nearly closed the country’s largest airport and left millions of people coughing and sputtering in the streets.
Dust clouds blowing east from Australia’s dry interior — parched even further by the worst drought on record — covered dozens of towns and cities in two states as strong winds snatched up tons of topsoil, threw it high into the sky and carried it hundreds of miles.
“Keeping yourself indoors today is the main thing to do if you have any of those conditions and particularly if you’re a known sensitive sufferer such as children, older adults or pregnant women,” said Wayne Smith, a senior state health official.
“These dust storms are some of the largest in the last 70 years,” said Nigel Tapper, an environmental scientist at Monash University. “Ten very dry years over inland southern Australia and very strong westerlies have conspired to produce these storms.”
Source: Yahoo
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