The Sydney skyline cleared Thursday after an enormous dust storm clouded the city under a red hue a day earlier.

Sydney residents began cleaning their city after a huge outback dust storm blew tonnes of soil into the city.

City council workers washed sidewalks, benches and garbage bins with pressurized water hoses and sweeping machines.

Hundreds of drivers waited at car wash outlets to clean off the dust from their autos.

[Sydney Resident]:
"Mine was sort of inside, in an internal garage, but it still got pretty messy though. Yes, never seen anything like it.'

A huge outback dust storm swept eastern Australia, disrupting transport and stripping valuable farmland topsoil.

The storm, carrying an estimated 5 million tonnes of dust, spread to the southern part of Australia's tropical state of Queensland, including state capital Brisbane.

The storm is continuing to move further north of the country.