A violent sandstorm lashed at the Egyptian capital, staining the sky orange and claiming at least four lives, local media reported.
The storm brought down a huge billboard which crushed cars, leaving one man dead and four injured.
Police reported that another billboard collapsed in Cairo's satellite city of Ramadan 10, crushing a girl to death. A man also died in Menufia province in the Nile Delta when a date palm fell on him.
The khamsin caused fierce traffic jams in Cairo and forced Egyptian authorities to close the ports of Suez and Zaitiyat on the Red Sea in the face of 26-knot winds and waves up to 4 meters high.
As noted by the local media, sandstorms, caused by depressions that move eastward along the southern Mediterranean or along the North African coast from February to June, sweep Egypt every spring.