Australia's worst dust storm in 60 years

Shrouded in dust: A man walks to work past an almost unseen Sydney Harbour Bridge during a dust storm on September 23, 2009, in Sydney, Australia.

Flights were diverted and ferries cancelled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia. (AP)

Australia's worst dust storm: The Sydney Opera House is cloaked in dust as dust clouds blanket much of Sydney in Australia's New South Wales state.

Australia's worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast 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. (AP)

Hard to breathe: Tourists wearing dust masks walk around Darling Harbour during a dust storm in Sydney.

No one was hurt as a result of the pall that swept in overnight, bringing an eerie orange dawn to Sydney, 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. (AP)

Caught in the wind: Traffic makes its way over the Cahill Expressway near Sydney as Australia's biggest city is shrouded in a a dust storm.

Sydney's cars and buildings turned orange as strong winds blew desert dust across the city, snarling commuter and air transport and prompting a warning for children and the elderly to stay indoors. (AFP)

Dust, dust everywhere: Ferries and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (centre) are shrouded in an eerie blanket of dust.

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 by unsafe visibility levels. (AFP)

Not a great sight: A couple looks out onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge as Australia's worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the city.

The dust was still flying further north, however, and the sky over the Queens land state capital of Brisbane was clogged with dust into the early evening.

People with asthma, heart or lung diseases were urged not to go outside and to keep their medicine inhalers handy. (AFP)