Haboob slams Phoenix with dust wall, darkening skies and knocking out power

A fierce dust storm, known as a haboob, slammed the Phoenix metropolitan area Monday, bringing dark skies and power outages to tens of thousands of residents.

The haboob arrived late in the afternoon in Arizona City, which is approximately 60 miles southeast of Phoenix.

Residents there told The Associated Press that they felt the strong wind rattle their cars and that they could taste dust in the air until the storm passed 15 minutes later.  

“I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face if I put my hand outside,” one resident, Bernae Boykin Hitesman, told the AP, noting she had to pull over as she was driving her children home from school.

A haboob is a dust storm that forms when the wind from a strong weather front or thunderstorm hits dry areas, lifting the dust and sand into the air. Haboobs typically hit hard and pass quickly.

The storm, which was followed by heavy rain and wind, left tens of thousands of people without power, including 15,000 in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, according to PowerOutage.us.

Flights were grounded at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where a roof of a terminal was slightly damaged.

“Crews have been identifying leaks and attempting to clean up water where it has collected in passenger areas,” the airport’s deputy aviation director for public relations said in an email to the AP.

The Associated Press contributed.