A huge swarm of ravenous locusts has been caught on film completely blanketing the skies over a Saudi Arabian city.
The deluge of biblical bugs – which numbered in the tens of millions – descended on Najran at the weekend.
Creepy online videos showed the true scale of the infestation which has already hit countries either side of the Red Sea.
In one shocking clip, the phone camera user can be seen taking a shovel to a tree to scrape off the locusts.
Another video shows hundreds of tens of thousands of the pests eerily writhing along the floor.
Earlier this year, the UN warned swarms would be bearing down on the region thanks to unusually heavy rainfall.
It called on countries in the “flight path” to take the necessary precautions to ensure the insects only had a limited impact.
In January, a huge swarm of the insects descended on Islam’s holiest site Mecca – leaving worshippers covered in insects.
Footage shared on social media showed the plague of insects surging around the Great Mosque as cleaners battled to fumigate after the phenomenon.
In the clips, the insects could be seen flying around the holy site as well as on the walls and tiled floor.
Officials have said that specialized teams have now been working to tackle the bug problem at the holy site.
Locust swarms contain up to 80 million insects per square mile and can be spread over hundreds of square miles.
A “small swarm” weighing about one ton can eat the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.
Plagues can consume all fruits, crops, vegetation in their path ultimately causing devastation to farmers and locals.
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