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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Phoebe Eckersley

'Billions' of locusts filmed swarming across Indian city turning sky black

A locust plague swarmed across India and coursed through built up towns.

Footage shows a surge of insects covering the sky and forcing the villagers to run for shelter.

A man, who filmed the moment, can be heard behind the camera: “There are billions and trillions.

“There are uncountable numbers of locusts flying in the sky, this is something I have never ever seen in my life."

He then turns the camera to a roof floor which has changed colour by a mass of the insects.

The bugs turned the sky dark grey (NurPhoto/PA Images)

Within a matter of seconds, the locusts entirely cover a stairway.

The insects went on to ravage plants and send the agricultural workers into a frenzy.

Millions of locusts blanketed the sky during the second plague in Jaipur, India, which took place on May 25.

A man holds a locust, which is a kind of short horned grasshopper (NurPhoto/PA Images)
The city's people were plagued by the insects (NurPhoto/PA Images)

A local emergency was reportedly declared in the city and in nearby agricultural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Officials have been spraying insecticides on crops to ward off the ravenous pests.

The locust has been identified as the Desert Locust and are said to have migrated from Pakistan to India after destroying their crops.

Insecticide has been sprayed on crops to stop the locusts' path of demolition (NurPhoto/PA Images)
Jaipur was badly affected by the swarm (NurPhoto/PA Images)

There are around 10 locust attacks or swarms in the country every year, with each following the monsoon winds.

The insect, which is a short horned grasshopper, is unique in its ability to change behaviour and work with mates to swarm and forage for food.

 A typical swarm can be made up of 150 million locusts per square kilometer and is carried on the wind, up to 150 km in one day.

A one-square kilometer swarm can eat the same amount of food as 35,000 people in a day.

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