Arizona dust storm: Thousands without power, flights grounded

A towering dust cloud caused havoc in Arizona on Monday, grounding flights and leaving thousands without power

A towering dust cloud caused havoc in Arizona on Monday, grounding flights and leaving thousands without power.

The slow-moving cloud — known as a haboob — hit parts of Phoenix and Arizona City, 60 miles to the southeast, late Monday afternoon, at one point leaving 15,000 energy customers in the dark. The number still without power Tuesday morning was more than 5,000 according to Poweroutage.us, mostly in Maricopa County.

Videos posted to social media showed entire neighborhoods engulfed in darkness as the dust storm rolled through. One video shot from a passing plane showed the sheer extend of the cloud, stretching for miles into the distance.