Phoenix Dust Storm Yields to Cleanup Effort

Phoenix residents awoke Wednesday morning to a city layered with thick brown dust and widespread power failures after a massive wall of dust swept through the city on Tuesday night.

The mile-high storm roared through the Phoenix area at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and was as much as 100 miles wide at its peak. As many as 17,000 people faced some loss of power as a result, according to The Arizona Republic. Police officers took to the streets to direct traffic at intersections where traffic lights had stopped working.

The storm also snapped off trees and brought down power lines, at one point causing a brief fire near Tempe. Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the venue for next week's Major League Baseball All Star Game, was transformed from its customary white to a shade of brown.