Ethereal webs blanket Victorian town after floods force spiders to take flight
A flood-hit Victorian town has been blanketed with ethereal spider's webs. Photo: Twitter
Spectacular spider webs have blanketed an Australian town after scores of arachnids used their silken webs to escape the region’s floods.
Storms have been roiling Victoria, with parts of the state hit with torrential rains and major flooding that has knocked out communications and forced some people to evacuate.
In the Gippsland town of Longford, the floods led to an ethereal natural phenomenon.
In an effort to avoid the flood waters, some of the town’s smallest residents – spiders, to be exact – used their webs as an escape mechanism.
Longford locals posted footage on social media of the town shrouded in silky white webs.
The ghostly veils covered trees and fields, with the footage quickly garnering reactions ranging from awe to horror from arachnophobes.
Parts of #Gippsland are covered in #spider web??!! The little black dots are spiders. There is web as far as the eye can see. This is near Longford #Victoria thanks Carolyn Crossley for the video pic.twitter.com/wcAOGU9ZTu
— 𝙼𝚒𝚖 𝙷𝚘𝚘𝚔 (@mim_cook) June 15, 2021
“If the floods weren’t enough, I give you [the] spider apocalypse,” one Reddit user wrote.
The stunning sight was caused by hundreds of thousands of ground-dwelling spiders using their webs to escape the flood waters via a process known as ‘ballooning’ or ‘kiting’.
In the right conditions, spiders release their web balloons into the wind, and ride the breeze using a sail made of their silk threads.
Ballooning allows spiders to launch themselves and travel up to hundreds of kilometres.
Flood fears continue
About 17,000 properties on the AusNet network remain without power after last week’s heavy storms.
The bulk are in the Dandenong Ranges in communities including Olinda, Monbulk and Belgrave.
Most will have power back on by week’s end, authorities say.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp confirmed 98 homes have been deemed uninhabitable, with another 84 significantly damaged.
Of the nearly 9000 requests for assistance amid the floods, most due to trees falling or building damage, less than 100 callouts are outstanding.