I'm sure the Opera House is out there somewhere! Dust storm turns sky over Sydney deadly red

By RICHARD SHEARS
Last updated at 1:04 AM on 24th September 2009

It is a city that usually wakes to brilliant blue skies. But dawn broke with a dramatic difference in Sydney yesterday.

Pulling back their blinds, residents were greeted with an eerie reddish-orange cloud cloaking all around them.

Early-morning commuters stared in disbelief at the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, whose normally striking outlines were rendered ghostly by the shroud of dust.

The outback dust storm has swept across eastern Australia, shrouding Sydney in a dramatic red glow.

It's also been wreaking havoc, disrupting transport and placing health authorities on alert for widespread respiratory illness.

International flights were diverted from Sydney, ferries on the harbour were suspended, and motorists were warned to take care on roads as visibility was dramatically reduced.

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Red dawn: The Sydney Opera House at sunrise today (top) as a glowing red cloud of dust shrouded the city contrasts against how the iconic venue normally looks (bottom)

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Red dawn: The Sydney Opera House at sunrise yesterday, right, as a red cloud of dust shrouded the city, and, left, how the iconic venue normally looks