A sightseeing boat passes in front of the Sydney Opera House during a dust storm Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Flights are diverted and ferries canceled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia.
People walk towards an almost unseen Sydney Harbour Bridge during a dust storm Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Flights are diverted and ferries canceled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia.(
A cyclist in Sydney wears a mask as dust clouds blanket much of Australia's New South Wales state Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. Flights are diverted as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia. (
A person takes pictures in front of the Sydney Opera House during a dust storm Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Flights are diverted and ferries canceled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia.
Cars wait at traffic lights during a dust storm Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Flights are diverted and ferries canceled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia.
Tourists wearing dust masks walk around Darling Harbour during a dust storm Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Flights are diverted and ferries canceled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia.
A man walks to work past an almost unseen Sydney Harbour Bridge during a dust storm Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia.Flights are diverted and ferries canceled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia.(
A sightseeing boat passes in front of the Sydney Opera House during a dust storm Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Flights are diverted and ferries canceled as a blanket of red dust shrouded most of Sydney after the weather system moved in from central Australia.
Millions of Australians were wiping a film of reddish Outback grit from nearly everything Thursday after the country's worst dust storm in seven decades played havoc with transport systems and sent asthmatics scurrying inside.
The country's largest airport said normal flight schedules were resuming Thursday, a day after the dust cloud caused almost 20 international flights to be diverted away from Sydney and threw domestic schedules into turmoil.
Skies over eastern Australia were mostly clear and blue, and New South Wales state health officials said they expected air pollution to drop to normal safe levels after reaching record highs the day before. But child care centers in Sydney kept young children inside Thursday until an official all-clear came through.
The dust storm Wednesday had shrouded Sydney and surrounding areas for about eight hours, blotting out landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge and even reaching underground to coat subway stations.
The haze, churned by powerful winds that lifted thousands of tons of topsoil from the arid and drought-stricken inland, was visible from space, appearing as a huge brown smudge in satellite photographs of Australia.
The Sydney Morning Herald called it "the day the country blew into town."
No one was hurt in the storm, though health officials responded to hundreds of calls in two states from people complaining of breathing difficulties.
But Mark Goodsell of the Australian Industry Group said the dust storm will end up costing New South Wales state tens of millions of dollars in lost productivity from interruptions Wednesday in flights and construction.
The storm also ripped an unknown amount of topsoil from farms across a huge swath of Australia.
"That's the real story of yesterday, what kind of damage is being done permanently to the rural landscape," Goodsell told the ABC.
The dust so thoroughly blanketed everything in its path — clothes, cars, train seats — that New South Wales and Queensland government promised to lift water restrictions, imposed because of the drought, so residents could clean their homes and vehicles.
Airlines on Thursday were still trying to get back on schedule, after diverted and canceled flights sent a ripple of delays and congestion through airports in Sydney, Brisbane and the southern city of Melbourne.
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