A plague of Biblical proportions descended on Egypt this week, with roughly 30 million locusts blanketing the skies near Giza and Cairo. As Egyptians burn tires in an attempt fend off the buzzing insects, the swarm has reportedly begun to damage crops in the area — a bad sign considering locusts are known to breed rapidly and can eat the equivalent of their own weight in a day. Egypt will now try to employ pesticides to save the crops, while neighboring Israel is already on high alert as the swarm heads toward its border.
The buzzing hoard comes just three weeks before the Jewish holiday of Passover, and bears a striking resemblance to one of the 10 plagues that God is said to have rained down on Egypt during Moses' day. But despite those parallels, do "put your apocalyptic fears to rest," says Adam Clark Estes at The Atlantic Wire. The swarm may be unusually large, but these insects actually pass through the area every year as part of their natural migration pattern.
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