New Orleans was struck by tens of thousands of swarming Formosan termites on Wednesday night causing hundreds of thousands of people’s skin to crawl.
From Violet to the Bywater and Covington to Algiers, reports of termite swarms across the the New Orleans metro area on Wednesday
Resembling something out of a creepy disaster movie, the termites made for any car headlights, streetlights or lit homes they could find in residential or commercial areas.
Usually the termites swarm like clockwork at the beginning of May, but with cooler temperatures in the New Orleans area combined with drier air the termite outbreak was delayed until last night’s warmer conditions.
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Formosan termites are not native to the United States and were introduced from the Far East in packing crates and other wood products during World War Two.
The Formosan termites flew across the New Orleans area in their tens of thousands last night
Massive infestations in and around New Orleans have become endemic along Lake Pontchartrain and at the naval shipyard in Algiers.
The reason for the huge swarms of the Formosan termites is because they only are capable of flying 300 yards in search of a mate and then the pair drop to the ground to burrow a nest if successful.
However, the large majority of the termites never manage to find a place to mate and burrow and die on the ground in their thousands as they fail to find shelter.
One man holds aloft his weapons against the bug infestation last night in New Orleans
A termite on nest on average takes about five years to reach a size where the new colony creates versions of the insect with wings to restart the cycle.
Mature termite colonies can have as many as 5 million individual insect members.
Read more: Major swarm of Formosan termites in Metairie on Wednesday night
