Dust from the centre covered New South Wales making the sky an eerie orange.
Were there any Travel Bloggers in Sydney who got to see the dust storms? It looked amazing - and I'd love to see some blogs relating to it!
Reply to this No one was hurt as a result of the pall that swept in overnight, bringing an eerie orange dawn to Sydney, but ambulance services reported a spike in emergency calls from people with breathing difficulties, and police warned drivers to take it easy on the roads.
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International flights were diverted from Sydney to other cities three from New Zealand were turned around altogether and domestic schedules were thrown into chaos as operations at Sydney Airport were curtailed by unsafe visibility levels. Passenger ferries on the city's famous harbor were also stopped for several hours for safety reasons.
Sydney dust storm; flight chaos, health worries
Looks like this dust storm may cause a pain in the bum for travellers.
Reply to this We live 80k's west of Sydney and woke up to a very strange morning. You could taste the red dust and our car and house are covered in a film of it. The drive to work was very, very strange - the dirt being blown around was from way out west and is very red/orange in colour because of the high iron content. We also got some very light rain which helped the dust to stick to everything it landed on.
Once I got to work I had to go and buy 300 dust masks for the people I work with who go and deliver mail outdoors all day.
Unfortunately I did not get any photos - but it was a very strange experience.
Oh, a news report I heard said that at the height of the storm 75,000 tonnes of dust was swept out to sea on the strong winds in one hour! Australia's biggest export to the world today was red dust!
Reply to this It impacted more than just Sydney - we were effected up here in Brisbane as well - the whole sky had this orange glow at the height of the storm, and visibility was dramatically reduced. I have an office view looking across the Brisbane River, and I could barely see the other side. I walked outside at one stage to feel what it was like, but it wasn't that dramatic, though you could feel your throat and mouth becoming very dry when the wind gusts came through. By the late afternoon, it was a hazy day reminiscent of Beijing or the larger cities in India.
Again, no photos - the camera was back at home - but one blogger is sure to have some!
Reply to this That red dust is really travelling. It must be very stormy down there, if it got blown all the way from Australia to NZ.
Reply to this We've just had another dust storm hit Brisbane within the last hour. It's not as bad as Wednesday's one, but it has shrouded the city in an eerie glow.
Reply to this Will all this top soil being blown away cause problems from farmers and make food in Australia more expensive for a while?
Reply to this At last - a daylight photo of the event!
Re the topsoil damage, this
news report states that the problem will impact on a farmer's productivity only if they have not over-cultivated the land, otherwise, they should be able to overcome any soil erosion on this occasion.
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