A sandstorm swept through Aswan, a city in Egypt's south, on Wednesday afternoon, damaging property and killing two people, according to local media reports.
"@EgyptianStreets Two reportedly killed during #Aswan sandstorm in #Egypt"
Egyptian Yousrey Aref uploaded this video of nature's onslaught to his public Facebook page.
“I almost suffocated from the sand! Every thing turned into an orange light only and you can’t see any thing [outside] the windows," Aref described in Arabic, the Egyptian Streets blog reported.
Aswan is a popular tourist spot because of the area's breathtaking ancient pharaonic temples and artifacts.
حذار من غضب الالهه في ارضها المقدسة ، #اسوان
Egypt's recent drop in tourism has hit Aswan hard.
عاصفة رمليه في #اسوان #aswan #egypt
In the 1960s, the Egyptian government controversially relocated some of Aswan's local Nuba people to make room for the Aswan Dam.
#اسوان انهاردة
Since then, many in Aswan have accused the central government of ignoring local development beyond the tourism industry.
صورة من العاصفة الترابية في #اسوان أمس #egyptianstreets
The Aswan dust storm was part of a wave of erratic weather to hit Egypt this week, including floods in the Sinai peninsula and a heatwave in the capital Cairo.
#Sandstorm in #Elphantine #Aswan
While dust storms are common across Egypt, residents on social media reported that they could not remember a storm of similar size in Aswan. As this Instagram caption captures: "This picture is not edited."
دى صوره من غير اى اديت .. #اسوان