If you’re in certain parts of Nevada or Idaho, you might think some kind of biblical plague is upon us. It’s nothing like that, but it’s still annoying. CBS News reports thousands of Morman crickets have descended on roads in parts of Nevada and Idaho.
The crickets are an invasive species. Their name originates from the 1800s, when the crickets used to destroy crops of Mormon settlers in Utah. While they don’t bite or do anything harmful to humans, the sight of thousands of them is enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
They’re all over the roads. Looking at any of the desolate roads in this part of the country from afar, you might think it’s covered in a light layer of brown dirt. But that’s not dirt. That’s thousands of crickets. And it’s forced officials in both states to have to clean roadways and sidewalks from bug guts. Any other time, bugs on the road wouldn’t be a problem for drivers. But thousands of crickets on roads create gross, slippery conditions, something Nevada state officials pointed out on Twitter.
Road workers in both states have been dispatched to clear the roads, using everything from snowplows to sand to get rid of the creepy crawlers. The crickets have even proved to be a headache for local hospitals as well. One hospital director described their ordeal: “Just to get patients into the hospital, we had people out there with leaf blowers, with brooms. At one point, we even did have a tractor with a snowplow on it just to try to push the piles of crickets and keep them moving on their way.” Gross.