Storm Blasts Dust, Sand Through the California Skies - East Idaho News
National

Storm Blasts Dust, Sand Through the California Skies

  Published at

GETTY 082214 haboob?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1408710638767File photo. iStock/Thinkstock(COACHELLA, Calif.) — Strong winds blasted dust and sand through the Southern California skies, part of a storm system known as a haboob.

Scott Pam was driving in the area Thursday when the storm hit, and the wind ripped the door straps off of his car.

 

The dust, whipped around by 40-mph winds, left drivers with low visibility. The name “haboob” comes from the Arabic word habb, meaning “wind.”

The storm also bent trees across California’s Coachella Valley, but there were no reports of serious injuries.


Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION