Sep 23, 2009
The Weather Report, Australia. Orange Alert…
(*Nabbed from The Guardian…)
Australia has been engulfed by dust storms as wild winds sweep millions of tonnes of red dust from continent’s drought-ravaged interior and dump it on the coast…
Storms of red dust produced a supernaturally orange and glowing sky over much of Australia’s east coast as the country experienced a day of freak weather conditions.
At Sydney airport, where visibility was cut to 400 metres, flights were cancelled while several international flights were diverted to Melbourne, where flights were also delayed. Flights were also delayed at Brisbane airport in Queensland.
As dust ravaged the east coast last night, heavy rains lashed Adelaide in the nation’s south where streets were flooded.
Then as morning dawned, two tremors shook Melbourne. Later in the day, hail stones as big as cricket balls pelted parts of New South Wales where heavy rainfalls are now expected and flash-flood warnings have been issued.
The Bureau of Meteorology said it was the worst dust storm since the 1940s, with particle pollution up to 10 times worse than the previous record and was predicting another storm would hit in the next day or two.
