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BY ALEJANDRA QUINTELA

ANCHOR JIM FLINK

You're watching multisource environment news analysis from Newsy.

It looked like doomsday Tuesday night in Phoenix--

As a dust storm of historic proportions swept through the area.

Meteorologist Dr. Greg Forbes explains-- the 50-mile wide dust storm was part of Arizona´s monsoon season.

“It is a classic. It is what we call a haboob. It got his name from the same storms, dust storms, in the Middle East. This is an American haboob. It is a wall of dust that it is pushing its way north toward the Phoenix area.” (The Weather Channel)

The Guardian reports the wall of dust blanketed the city in chaos and darkness.

“The storm caused some power blackouts, leaving up to 8,000 people without electricity and police directing traffic...streets were blocked by toppled trees...The city's airport closed for an hour, with the Federal Aviation Administration warning about continued flight delays.”

According to The Washington Post -- the dust wall crossed the Phoenix metro area at 60 mph-- catching some residents off guard. One neighbor tweeted--

“So tonight I went out to pick up our pizza order & 30 seconds later we were hit by the huge wall of dust that reduced our visibility to nada.”

And The Arizona Republic reports the storm left paths of dust and damage in the valley. National Weather Service meteorologist Craig Ellis says more dust storms are due Wednesday evening.

"No night is ever going to be exactly the same... The odds of getting another (big dust storm) are not that great, but on the other hand, the conditions have not changed that much, so it's possible.”

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Transcript by Newsy.