May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

BAGHDAD: A blinding dust storm hit Baghdad for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, forcing pedestrians to stay indoors and bringing road and air traffic to a halt, officials said.

Fine dust from the storm, which is expected to continue for several days, has seeped into homes, depositing a thin film of yellow powder. “People are afraid of storms. They do not want to leave their homes and they prevent their children from attending school,” an official at an emergency department of a hospital in Baghdad said.

With traffic accidents reportedly rising due to the lack of visibility, traffic police Colonel Walid Ammar went on state television urging people to drive slowly.

Flights into and out of Baghdad have been cancelled, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. “I am on leave and I do not have much time,” said Paul Benson, a security guard with a foreign company said who has been stuck at the airport since Tuesday.

“I have already spent two days at the airport but right now I am thinking of getting to Jordan as from there everything is possible.” Another passenger, Sandy Mitchell, was also frustrated.

“This sucks,” she said, “but you can’t do anything about a dust storm.” For Baghdadis, the storm was yet another peril in the ongoing struggle of daily life in the war-ravaged capital.

“This may be a divine retribution, but we already had a lot and this is enough,” said Haitham, a trader, who did not give his full name.—AFP