Phoenix – An imposing wall of dust crossed the Phoenix metro on Monday with storms that left tens of thousands of people without electricity and temporarily anchored flights at the city’s airport.
About 39,000 people were without power in Arizona, most of whom were in the county of Maricopa, which includes Phoenix, according to Poweroutage.us.
Motorists rushed to the house through strong winds and rain as the dust storm, commonly known as Haboob, approached. Habaobs are associated with thunderstorms that collapse and strong winds and can make driving on the roads almost impossible.
The haboob reduced visibility to a quarter of a mile through the Phoenix metro, but had cleared on Monday evening. Phoenix was drier than usual during the summer rainy season, while certain parts of the Southeast and the North Center of Arizona had a good amount of rain, said Mark O’malley, a meteorologist of the National Weather Service in Phoenix.
“But it is typical of a monsoon, very struck and missed,” he said.
Forecasts for Metro Phoenix call 40% of rain on Tuesday before drying, said O’malley.
The Arizona Department of Transportation wrote in an article on the social platform X that people should not lead to a dust storm, “but if you are on the road when you hit, you withdraw, stay alive!”
The planes of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were temporarily anchored due to “extreme time”, said Heather Sheath, director of assistant aviation of the airport for public relations, in an email. On Monday evening, the ground stop was lifted, with delayed flights of approximately 15 to 30 minutes.
According to the city’s police service.
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Golden reported in Seattle. The author of the Associated Press, Felicia Fonseca, contributed the reports of Flagstaff.
