A rare dust storm caused a multi-vehicle pileup and shut off power to Central Valley residents Monday.
The so-called haboob swept through the valley from about 1:30 to 4 p.m. Monday, said Emily Wilson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service at Hanford.
Several people were injured in an accident on California 99, and Pacific Gas & Electric reported outages for about 15,000 Fresno county residents as abnormally high winds kicked dust up into a menacing cloud.
“It was unusually dry for several months,” Wilson said, adding that a low pressure system “picked up all that dust and carried it across the entire valley.”
In Madera, officials recorded a gust of 49 mph, which is unusual for a Central Valley location, Wilson said.
The video below, from UC San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia, shows the dust storm engulfing a camera east of Delano.
The university’s Garces Highway camera is located east of …