The massive cloud of dust resulted in air pollution 1,500 times its normal level in Sydney -- the highest on record.

The dim, blood-colored sky was described by many as looking like “Armageddon,” and health officials braced for an outbreak of respiratory illness.

Flights into Sydney’s international airport were diverted to Brisbane and Melbourne due to the cloud of dust so dense that it actually set off fire detectors across the city.

"It's just red, red, red as far as you can see," one caller at the Anzac Bridge told radio station 2GB.

The dust initially blacked out the outback mining town of Broken Hill, before being blown into the metropolitan area by gale-force winds.

The severe drought parching much of Australia is responsible for the record dust storm, according to the country’s Bureau of Meteorology.

Photo: Diann Payne