Blood-red crickets invade Nevada town, residents fight back with brooms, leaf blowers, snow plows

A highway sign warning,"Caution Slick Road," is shown, Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Spring Creek, Nev. State transportation officials have put up signs on highways warning drivers of greasy roads. Freeways are a popular hangout spot for insects known as Mormon crickets. – Dana Dolan was driving through her small Nevada hometown when she thought she had come upon a gory crash. The ground surrounding Elko's stretch of Interstate 80 looked as if it had been covered in blood.

The invasion of the cannibalistic crickets has hit especially hard in Elko, a small town of about 20,000 near Idaho and Utah known for its gold mining. The red creatures blanket highways and scuttle over barriers, seeking food. They crackle and pop under the wheels of trucks, creating something like an oil slick, said Jeremiah Moore of Spring Creek, whose vehicle slid off the road after a highway encounter with the Mormon crickets.

“We’re just trying to keep them moving on their way,” said Steve Burrows, a spokesperson for Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital.There was the medical worker in the cardiology unit who, still in his black scrubs, went outside the hospital’s ambulance bay between seeing patients to swat crickets away with a broom, Burrows said. And the IT specialists who helped with clean-up efforts.

“The settlers prayed for relief,” Knight said. “That came in the form of seagulls. Seagulls ate the crickets...That's also why they're the state bird of Utah."to assess the problem and set up a Mormon cricket and grasshopper “suppression” program.

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Elko, Nevada battling biblical invasion as crickets overrun townElko, Nevada, is under siege as blood-red crickets invade the town in massive numbers. Now residents are fighting back.
Source: IntEngineering - 🏆 287. / 63 Read more »

Blood-red crickets continue invasion of Elko; residents fight back as best they can'It's almost like a biblical plague,' Dolan told The Associated Press last week, laughing at the absurdity of the situation that is playing out in Elko, where she's lived for six years.
Source: KSLcom - 🏆 549. / 51 Read more »

Nevada is crawling with swarms of smelly 'Mormon crickets'Hordes of Mormon crickets have been migrating through Elko, Nevada and other areas of the West in recent weeks, creating a scene like something from a scary movie
Source: NatGeo - 🏆 537. / 51 Read more »

Review: 'Final Fantasy XVI' Is Still Final Fantasy, With More Blood and ButtsWhile XVI is overtly darker than many past games in the series, that darkness reveals itself to be mostly superficial.
Source: WIRED - 🏆 555. / 51 Read more »

Deion Sanders undergoes successful blood clot surgery, girlfriend saysThere is encouragement that Deion Sanders won’t need to have his foot amputated.
Source: nypost - 🏆 91. / 67 Read more »