For Americans who do n’t dwell out west , any reference of tumbleweeds tends to call down up prototype of a lone bush fluff lazily across the desert . The realness is not so wild-eyed , as Californians would separate you .
The town of Victorville , California — an 85 - naut mi drive from Los Angeles — was overtaken by massive tumbleweeds earlier this calendar week when wind speed strain nearly 50 miles per hour . The tumbleweeds blew across the Mojave Desert and into town , where they throng up on residents ’ doorsteps . Some stack tower as high as the 2nd story , immobilize residents in their homes , grant to theLos Angeles Times .
City employees and firefighters were dispatched to tackle the briary problem , which reportedly dissemble about 150 households . pitchfork were used to dispatch the Russian tumbleweed , some of which were as large as 4 feet tall by 4 foot wide .
" The crazy thing about Russian cactus is that they are extremely thorny , they plug into together like LEGOs , " Victorville spokeswoman Sue Jones enjoin theLos Angeles Times . " You ca n’t pass out and snap up them and move them . You necessitate special tool . They really ache . "
Due to the townsfolk ’s propinquity to the heart-to-heart desert , residents are used to dealing with the episodic tumbleweed invasion . Similar cases have been report inTexas , New Mexico , and other states in the West and Southwest . In 1989 , the South Dakota town of Mobridge had to use machinery to move out 30 tons of tumbleweeds , which had swallow home , harmonize toMetro UK .
Several plant species are considered a tumbleweed . The works only becomes a pain in the neck when it reaches matureness , at which time it dry out out , breaks from its antecedent , and gets carried off into the wind , spreading seeds as it buy the farm . They ’re not just unsightly , either . They can stimulate soil dryness , leading to erosion and sometimes even killing crops .
[ h / tLos Angeles Times ]
