Dust storm covers Australian town in orange fog

A town in Australia has been blanketed by orange dust after a dust-storm swept through the outback and caused damage to homes and trees.

The dust storm. Picture: Queensland police

Dirt from the outback was picked up by a huge storm that allowed strong winds to pick up lying dirt, after gusts of nearly 100km/h, reducing visibility to around 100m.

The town of Charleville, in the south-west of the region, which has been hit by dust storms in the past, was the worst effected.

“We do see a fair few dust events through the western parts of Queensland because it is such a dry and hot place, but it’s definitely one of the more impressive events of the last few years,” Harry Clark, from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology told ABC.

Residents took to social media to share popular images of poor visibility and homes and other buildings that were covered in the dust.

Local police officer Grant Marcus added to ABC: “So far I haven’t spoken to anyone who’s seen anything as unusual or significant as this in the way of dust storms.

“It’s not unusual to get them out here, you do get them occasionally but it’s quite a significant one and it’s been lasting for a considerable amount of time.”