It was a house-swarming party.
Residents of southeastern Mexico were left in shock after a biblical proportion of locusts swallowed the region’s skies, leading many — including local media — to evoke passages from the books of Exodus and Revelation.
The plague unfolded this week in Mérida and nearby Sinanché in the Yucatan area, with local authorities struggling to mitigate the midge-like insects.
“I won’t open my mouth again!” one X user posted Wednesday in Spanish alongside a photo of the locust invasion.
Other videos shared online show the swarm passing over major urban corridors as cars drive underneath — some are calling it “the end of the world.”
Since 2020, a heightened influx of locust swarms has been reported around the Horn of Africa.
Outbreaks were recorded last month in the Middle East and Africa, according to the United Nations.
Locust swarms commonly develop due to food scarcity — the swarms allow the insects to breed without interruption, per the UN, which noted climate change can be a triggering factor.
The agency blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for exacerbating swarms.
Supply chain disruptions impacted the production and delivery of needed pesticides.
The University of Cambridge notes that locusts tend to attack areas of vegetation during droughts.
The Yucatan has been farm-rich since the days of the Mayans.
Of course, that peninsula is no stranger to apocalyptic events. The asteroid that annihilated dinosaur life landed in the region 66 million years ago.