(Reuters) –  The U.S. state of Arizona is used to dust storms but not many of them are this big. The giant cloud of dust and sand swept across Phoenix and surrounding areas on Tuesday bringing transport chaos with it. Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport was temporarily closed. Motorists were forced to pull over as visibility fell.

The storm came in with sustained winds of 112 kilometres an hour (70MPH) and stretched for almost 50 kilometres (30 miles). Large sandstorms are fairly common in Arizona between May and September because of high heat and low moisture in desert areas. But this one was definitely on the larger end of the scale.

1. sweep - swept² /swiːp/ - /swept/ (v) to move over an area, especially in order to look for something: quét qua, giáng xuống

• It was the worst storm to hit London this century. Đó là trận bão tồi tệ nhất thế kỷ từng quét qua Luân Đôn.
• Cold winds swept the plains. Gió lạnh quét qua các cánh đồng.

2. chaos /ˈkeɪɒs/ (n) a state of complete confusion and lack of order: sự hỗn loạn

• in a state of chaos: trong tình trạng hỗn loạn = to be in chaos
• to be thrown / plunged into chaos by: bị hỗn loạn do (cái gì) gây ra
• Heavy snow has caused traffic chaos.
  Tuyết rơi dày đặc làm giao thông hỗn loạn.
• on/to the brink of chaos: bên bờ vực rối loạn
• to create order out of chaos: lập lại trật tự trước tình trạng hỗn loạn

3. stretch /stretʃ/ (v) ~ for to spread over an area of land: trải dài, lan rộng ra, trải rông (= extend)

• to stretch for hundreds of miles: trải dài hàng trăm dặm
• Fields stretched out as far as we could see. Các cánh đồng trải rộng xa hút tầm mắt.