The Argentine town of Santa Isabel in La Pampa has recently gone dark, but not because the power grid cut it off – local authorities decided to switch off all street lights as a radical measure to fight an invasion … of bugs. Tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of beetles have infested the streets, buildings, and even storm drains of the town over the past few weeks.
The videos and photos speak volumes as to why the locals refer to the beetle infestation as an "invasion".
"They're everywhere – in the houses, in the shops", Santa Isabel Deputy Mayor Cristian Echegaray said.
Local law enforcement claims that the infestation has caused problems across the town, causing damage to buildings and vehicles. They also often hit objects and humans as they fly around the town.
Although they'hre not generally dangerous to people, the bugs are hardly pleasant guests. Hence the authorities decided to shut down all external light sources, which originally attracted the beetles to the town, to drive they away. After three days of living in a blackout, the town saw a decrease in the bug population. Some of the locals started shovelling them into cardboard boxes and forcibly moving them out of town.
The emergence of so many beetles at once might be linked to recent weather conditions in the area, which have been ideal for breeding – heavy rains and 40-degree Celsius temperatures that sped up the development of larvae burrowing in the ground.