Thousands of people were left in the dark as a huge wall of dust rushed through metro Phoenix after being stirred up by a powerful storm.
The haboob, or strong dust clouds, grounded planes at one of the country's largest airports, blinded vehicles, and caused massive power outages.
What is Haboob dust storm?
A haboob is a wind-driven dust storm that usually occurs in flat and dry regions during the monsoon season in the southwestern United States. It is caused by a weather front or thunderstorm.
According to AccuWeather, these dust walls can reach heights of 10,000 feet, and wind gusts can peak 50 to 70 mph. These are strong enough to throw debris into the air and bring down trees.
Haboobs pose significant hazards. Visibility can drop sharply to mere feet, which can cause serious problems for motorists. Besides the visibility issue, the poor air quality cause respiratory difficulties for those moving out of their house.
Haboob dust storm: All about power cuts in Arizona
The Phoenix division of the National Weather Service warned that the dust may potentially impact over two million people.
{{/usCountry}}The Phoenix division of the National Weather Service warned that the dust may potentially impact over two million people.
{{/usCountry}}The majority of those affected were in Maricopa County, which contains Phoenix, with over 15,000 individuals losing power, as per the United States Power Outage Map.
According to ABC15 Arizona, dust and rainstorms during a powerful monsoon swept through areas of the Valley and Pinal County in Arizona, leaving over 50,000 utility customers without power in Phoenix. Approximately 52,000 people were without power as of 7:30 PM. According to ABC15 Arizona, the SRP outage map indicated that over 47,400 people were without power, however the APS outage map indicated that about 9,000 customers were impacted.
Additionally, the PHX Sky Train was shut down for at least one hour.
Flight delays at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Following Monday's storm, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport experienced delays and at least 62 flights were grounded due to heavy rain and wind that damaged a terminal roof, reported KOLD-TV, a CBS-affiliated TV station in Tucson, Arizona.
In an Associated Press email, Heather Shelbrack, the airport's deputy aviation director for public affairs, stated: “Crews have been identifying leaks and attempting to clean up water where it has collected in passenger areas.”
Haboob dust storm: Here's what NWS has said
Mark O'Malley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, said that while the monsoon season has been drier than usual in Phoenix, there has been a fair amount of precipitation in regions of southeast and north-central Arizona. “But that's typical for a monsoon, very hit and miss,” he said.
There is a 40% chance of rain on Tuesday before the weather clears up, according to the forecast for metro Phoenix.