Thick Blankets of Cobwebs Seen in Australia After Flooding, Mouse Plague

Thick blankets of cobwebs are covering the Southeastern parts of Australia in what has been dubbed as the "spider apocalypse" after experiencing flooding with powerful winds.

Residents in the Gippsland region taken photos and posted them on social media, showing the horror movie-evoking cobwebs. The spooky pictures were first shared on the website Reddit and has since then become viral across different social media platforms.

Before this spider apocalypse, Southeastern Australia experienced the mouse plague that destroyed crops and caused house fires in the area.

Spider Apocalypse in Australia

A Reddit user posted on the website a photo taken from the East Gippsland region showing cobwebs covering large swaths like a carpet. The user posted the picture with a caption: "If the floods weren't enough, I give you, spider apocalypse."

One person wrote in the comment section that the picture was most likely taken in Victoria, Australia, as it consistently experiences the same phenomenon every after flooding as spiders swarm together and make a carpet of cobwebs to avoid the water.

According to MSN, Victoria was recently hit by heavy rains and strong winds, which forced many residents to evacuate their homes. Although some chose to stay even without power as authorities fix the transformers and repair roads.

But until this week, Gippsland still experiences heavy rainfall, with emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp saying that there could be a chance of up to 50mm rain in East Gippsland to the south and West Gippsland.

Crisp said in an interview that the spiders seen in Victoria that caused the thick cobwebs are the sheet web spiders that mostly stay in the ground, but heavy rains and flooding have forced them to move.

Spider Ballooning

It turns out; spiders are one of the best pilots in nature.

Local news media calls the phenomenon in Gippsland as "ballooning," in which spiders release silk threads that are caught by the wind and carried away, covering large swaths and sometimes travel across land or sea.

According to National Geographic, spiders release sail-like trails of silk that lift them up and off into the wind, sometimes reaching the oceans as they got caught in jet streams.

Despite their creepy blankets of spider webs, these arachnids do not pose any harm to humans. These spiders are the Red and Black Spider or scientifically known as Ambicodamus crinitus.

Mouse Plague in Australia

Before Southeastern Australia was covered with spider webs, the pest problem started with millions of mice rampaging communities that caused the petition to consider the mouse plague as a "natural disaster" so affected individuals could claim insurance payouts after a disaster caused by the mice.

The mouse plague in Australia has torched houses and cars and even destroyed crops. These horrific outbreaks are recorded 1,000km from Brisbane to Melbourne and have been wreaking havoc for farming communities, The Sun reported.

According to The Times, this year's outbreak is the worst mouse plague that ever happened in more than 30 years. A farmer's wife was rushed to the hospital after waking up to a mouse chewing on her eyeball.

The rodents have eaten through electrical wires that caused house fires and left cars being damaged. The plague is getting worse, according to one mechanic who said that he is now getting four cars a day to repair.

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