The Swarm - New Orleans

New Orleans was struck by millions of swarming Formosan termites on Wednesday night causing hundreds of thousands of people's skin to crawl.
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.

From Violet to the Bywater and Covington to Algiers, reports of termite swarms across the the New Orleans metro area on Wednesday

 

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.
Massive infestations in and around New Orleans have become endemic along Lake Pontchartrain and at the naval shipyard in Algiers.

Critters be Crawling: The Formosan termites flew across the New Orleans area
 last night

I Need More Bug Spray: One man holds aloft his weapons against the bug infestation last night in New Orleans

The termites took to the skies across the south and were late this year - usually attempting to mate at the beginning of May

The termite swarm set social media abuzz as people shared pictures of the infestation in the night sky

Formosa termites are common in southern states - and their mating season usually begins in late April or early May - this year in New Orleans it began late

 

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.
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.

There were so many termites in the sky that pigeon were forced to stay on their perches

The termites were brought over from the Far East in wooden containers during the Second World War

The termites can only fly short distances away from their burrows as they attempt to mate