It’s So Thick In California Right Now, Residents Say It’s Like A Biblical Plague

Robert Rich

Residents in Lone Pine, California are beside themselves after experiencing what many are likening to a biblical plague. In fact, the problem is so thick outside, those within the communities affected are finding it difficult to function through everyday life.

According to reports, the area is suffering from a massive influx of black and red bugs that appear to be what is known as the Pima Canyon Seed Bug. Its official name is the Melacoryphus lateralis, and unfortunately for those on the Sierra Nevada’s eastern slopes, it seems the bugs have surged to the area and are making life rather unbearable.

With God having sent down locusts as one of the plagues to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves from Egypt, it’s no wonder people are likening the bug surge to a biblical plague.

This has been the norm for about two months now, and residents are growing sicker of the situation by the day with the bugs seeming to be most attracted to light. “They’re in everything. There’s no way to get rid of them or eradicate them. They’re just here,” said Blair Nicodemus, 33. “Sometimes there will be these micro-plumes that’ll come through where there will be just thousands of them, and they’ll be all over you. … I’m sure I’ve eaten at least two dozen, because they get into your food.”

According to Mail Online:

The influx has been driven by a mild winter and monsoonal weather, which provided healthier vegetation for the nutrient-sucking bugs, said David Haviland, an entomologist with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Kern County.

The agricultural commissioner for Inyo and Mono counties, Nathan Reade, states that the bug invasion could be on account of native vegetation drying up because of the drought, forcing the bugs to move elsewhere to find food. This, in turn, has made life very inconvenient for those in the area and has even hindered quality of life.

Currently it is suggested that light at night is kept to a minimum, since they’re attracted to it. Also, it is requested that lights are kept off in hotel rooms and recommended that you keep your windows rolled up if you’re in a car with the lights on.

Lia Sensanbaugh of Inyokern explains that she doesn’t even use the lights in her own home anymore. “I’ve got them real bad,” she further noted. “I’ve been living off my TV light for about a month and a half.”

As one would imagine, gas stations are a prime target for the bugs as the overhead lights are kept on all night long. “Millions, tens, twenty, we can’t count it,” says gas station owner Soma Praba. “At night time, if you go into the station, they’ll follow. They go everywhere. They get on your body, your head.”

It results in quite the mess come morning time, as employees are forced to remove the bug carcasses that died the night prior with a leaf blower. This, of course, results in piles of dead bugs inches thick, but it doesn’t end there. After spending the first three hours in the morning cleaning up the bugs, just two hours later, they’re forced to do it again as just as many bugs have died and taken their place prompting another clean up session.

Understandably, the bugs’ presence has left residents praying for the first snow to come in order to quell the temporary infestation. As sick of the bugs as they are though, some suggest it could be worse. Ridgecrest Mayor Peggy Breeden even joked, “If frogs come, we’re all leaving.”

Can’t say I blame her in the least. What do you think – how would you respond if your hometown came under such an attack?

(h/t: Mail Online)
(Image source: Mail Online)