Red dust storm shrouds Sydney

AUSTRALIA’S worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast yesterday 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.

No one was hurt as aresult of the storm 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.

Dust clouds blowing east from Australia’s dry interior — parched even further by the worst drought on record — covered dozens of towns and cities carry hundreds of miles by strong winds.

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. Passenger ferries on the city’s harbour also stopped for several hours.

The dust over Sydney had largely cleared by mid afternoon. The dust was still flying further north, however, and the sky over the Queensland state capital of Brisbane was clogged with dust into the early evening.

National carrier Qantas said severe delays would last all day because of diverted and late-running flights.

Such thick dust is rare in Sydney and the storms are the most severe since the 1940s, experts said.

Officials said particle pollution in Sydney’s air rose to the worst on record yesterday, and the New South Wales state ambulance service said it had received more than 250 calls before midday from people suffering breathing problems.