on april 1 , the sandstorm could be seen enveloping much of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates .
the following day , it pushed further east to cause flight cancellations in dubai .
by april 4 , it was beginning to stretch across the arabia sea towards pakistan and india .
on top of this , 678 flights were delayed and another 19 rerouted from airports in jeddah , riyadh and dammam .