As told to me by meteorologists and other various news sources, the intense high winds in New South Wales and South Australia swept dust from the Outback over the city of Sydney. The bizarre occurrence caused airport and public transport chaos. People with respiratory issues were advised to stay indoors and many home smoke detectors set off alarms.
Naturally occurring events often act as a harsh reminder of the fragility of it all. What if this orange dust over Sydney hadn't dissipated by mid-afternoon? What if it had hovered over the city for weeks, its dust potentially lethal to many people? Thoughts that make you consider how powerless we all actually are.
Unfortunately, I was too comfy and cozy to get out of bed this morning and capture the moment, therefore below I'm sharing below the images of other local photographers who didn't sleep in today.
Photo from The New York Times
When we moved here two and a half years ago, we had a babysitter who had just moved here from Brazil. As an aspiring journalist, Rosangela came to Australia to practice her English. Recently she contacted me, she had come across my blog online. These days Rosangela has her own blog, and today she posted an extremely eloquent and poignant article describing the look and feel of this morning.
Posts
25 comments:
AMAZING.
Jill- Amazing a scary, crazy way.
It was really eerie. I woke up a little after 6 am needing the loo. My mouth tasted dusty. I was half asleep so didn't really notice the light until I reached the bathroom.
My first thought was that the Council must have changed the street lights to fog lights.
Second thought - fire. There was lots of backburning this weekend but I would have had to hear it or felt it for the lilght to glow so.
I open the front door to an orange red miasma. The photos you've posted Florida Girl are spot on. It wasn't just the sky, everything had a burnt orange hue.
Surreal
Awesome photos. Wasn't it SO scary.xx♥
Miss Fi- Yeah, we had smoke all last weekd every evening, so I assumed when we woke up this morning that this was related to the "backburning" which my friend Ana had told me about. But apparently not.
Natalie- Totally freaky. And the photos aren't mine (as noted).
Oh, man. Cool and scary. Actually, now that I've read Rosangela's post, just plain scary.
So is that a red dawn?
i heard about this, and was thinking of you - Thanks so much for posting, and for sharing the photos - btw, you would have taken great photos of this!
Once I got over the shock, I thought it was really beautiful
There was just a story about this on our local news. Unbelievable. I hope you guys are breathing ok out there!
JD- Really beautiful, until you breathe :)
Rassles- Why yes it really is.
Ninabellina- thanks girlfriend. Kisses fluffy.
Nursemyra- It was gorgeous, but I'm still choking on dust!
Chitown- I know, I saw it on CNN International-- it really was worthy of intl coverage! And no, the breathing is still not good. Maybe tomorrow the dust will hopefully clear?
HA! You got all our cast off dirt!
Freeman- Thanks man.
And today what a beautiful day, ran? It's hard to believe that happen just yesterday! Now let's just hope for rain to wash the dust away! Once more, tks a lot for your support, kind compliments and for linking my blog as well! Send my kisses to the kids and take care!
Rosangela- Btw, I loved your before and after photos, that was a great idea!
So surreal. I'm glad the skies are blue again.
That is amazing. Did people stay home from school and work or did life go on?
Ana- But there's still so much dust in the air, I can't stand being outside!
hereinfranklin- most people still went out but anyone with respiratory issues was advised to stay indoors-- as still is. My 5 year old have resp. problems-- he's been home from school for 3 days. And they're expecting another sandstorm this weekend!
Just fascinating. Thanks so much for sharing.
I remember so clearly the dust storm I got caught up in when I lived in Beijing. You could literally watch the wall of yellow "loese" sand from the desert coming into the city. I was sitting on the back of a motorbike getting a ride to work and it's like we were racing against time to get to the building before being enveloped.
I hope your little guy doesn't get too affected by it!
Taskers- It is pretty fascinating, and thanks!
Here are some snaps from my apartment window overlooking Centennial Park:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/SydneyDustStorm#
Oh hell, while I'm at it, here are pictures from my 586 km bicycle ride in Queensland:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stecksoft/CycleQueensland#
Did I mention that I rode those 568 km only five weeks after knee surgery?
-- Paul
Home sweet home. Makes me sad. ;-)
Wow! That's amazing and definitely a bit scary. I think of our fragility all the time...
Wow! Surreal! What an amazing sight to see!
Steck- thanks for the links, very cool photos-- looks like an amazing ride!
Marvin- haha, I'm just hoping it doesn't happen again, please tell your people to stop this.
Christing- exactly!
Becca- Like amazing in a bad way, right?
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