Australians woke to red, apocalyptic skies today after a huge Outback dust storm swept across the east of the country, leaving Sydney shrouded in a thick cloud.
Flights were diverted and ferries suspended after visibility was cut down to a few feet as dust coated cars, buildings and beaches.
The emergency services were inundated with calls from people fearing a major bushfire in the city while dust particles triggered scores of fire alarms and, in one Sydney train station, an emergency evacuation.
An intense low pressure system sweeping in from central Australia brought wild winds that whipped up tonnes of dust from the state's drought-ravaged interior and spread it across New South Wales.
The extraordinary weather conditions also fanned several bushfires across the state.
"This is unprecedented. We are seeing earth, wind and fire together," **** Whitaker from the Weather Channel said
Callers to ABC, the national radio station, likened the scenes to the end of the world.
A housewife from Sydney said that she woke up to find the red dust had covered her floors and birds had been blown out of their nests.
"It did feel like Armageddon because when I was in the kitchen looking out the skylight there was this red, red glow coming through," she said.
