US town hit by 'biblical' invasion of cannibal mormon crickets
Ben Thompson
Featured Image Credit: KUTV
An American town has been hit by a 'biblical' invasion of 'cannibalistic' Mormon crickets, which have covered roads and highways.
That thought definitely makes your skin crawl.
The two-inch insects have been terrorising Elko, Nevada by eating their crops.
But not just that, the pests are also proving to be a road hazard - as so many of them are being crushed on their roads that they are making the surface slippery for vehicles.
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Despite their name, they actually have no relation to crickets and largely harmless.
However, while they pose no threat, they have still caused distress for locals.
The town is just one of several locations within the state under siege, as footage shared to social media has shown the deluge of bugs infesting other Nevada towns.
One woman was even asked if she had been 'cursed' after she showed the swarms of bugs on her house
"When we looked out here the whole wall was just covered. That really, really freaked me out," resident Colette Reynolds said to KUTV.
A spokesperson for Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital said that hospital staff have had to go outside with brooms and leaf blowers to clear a path for patients to get into the building.
Meanwhile, the state's Department for Transportation have been busy at work clearing the roads of crushed bugs.
"You can see that they're moving and crawling and the whole road is crawling and it just makes your skin crawl. It's just so gross," resident Stephanie Garrett said.
Not only are there loads of them, but they also have some cannibalistic tendencies as well.
"They get run over, two or three come out and eat their buddy, and they get run over, and the roads can get covered with crickets and they can get slick," Jeff Knight, an entomologist for the Nevada agriculture department, told KSL.
"The bigger issue is these afternoon thunderstorms and put a little water on that and it gets slick, we've had a number of accidents caused by crickets."
Knight has been studying Mormon crickets since 1976 and has experienced over 40 outbreaks in the decades since he began treating the farmland for the pests.
He said: "The band of crickets in Elko [Nevada] is probably a thousand acres, and we've had bands even bigger than that.
"The drought is probably what triggered them to start hatching.
"Once they do they have the upper hand, so their populations increase for several years then drop off."