Credit: Charlie Budd
A dramatic dust storm has blanketed Arizona, grounding flights and blinding drivers.
Towering clouds of dust rolled through cities in the south west such as Phoenix, knocking out power and darkening the sky.
Extraordinary footage showed the storm obscuring skyscrapers as it moved across the ground at 45mph.
Two million people across Arizona were put on a dust storm watch with the National Weather Service warning of low visibility and strong winds.
The storm was so powerful that temperatures in Phoenix dropped from 100F (38C) to 75F (24C) as it passed, according to ABC News.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at the city’s Sky Harbour Airport for an hour on Monday night.
Three hundred flights were delayed when the airport reopened.
More than 15,000 people in Arizona lost power, mostly in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, according to PowerOutage.us.
Videos taken in Tempe showed the Mountain America Stadium being swallowed up by a cloud of dust.
Among those caught in the storm was Bernae Boykin Hitesman who was driving her son, nine, and daughter, 11, home from school in Arizona City when the storm arrived.
She was forced to pull over as the dust storm, also known as a haboob, engulfed her car.
A haboob is a towering wall of dust carried forward by wind from inclement weather or a thunderstorm. It typically occurs in flat, arid areas.
“I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face if I put my hand outside,” Ms Hitesman said.
She said her children were “really scared” as they cowered inside their vehicle for 15 minutes until the storm passed.
In the Nevada desert, Burning Man got off to a rough start owing to 80mph gusts which the National Weather Service said created a “wall of blowing dust”.
Festival goers posted videos on social media of campsites covered in dust, while those trying to get onto the site had to wait eight hours in their cars.
In one clip posted on X, a group of men wearing face and eye masks desperately tried to secure their tent, which was flapping wildly in the wind.
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