Towns in Utah have been inundated with tumbleweeds that have blocked roads, surrounded houses and buried cars after a strong storm.
South Jordan, which lies south of state capital Salt Lake City, is cleaning up after winds blew thousands of the plants through streets.
The weeds formed piles up to three metres high (10 feet), in some places. Similar scenes unfolded in Eagle Mountain, further to the south.
According to local news outlet KSL TV, residents of South Jordan ploughed through the weeds with hoes and shovels before city workers arrived with garbage trucks to clean up.
Photograph: Britta Jarvie/Reuters
The city has asked residents to report wind damage incidents and is expected to post a list of sites for tumbleweed disposal
“Luckily, it’s something we can handle,” said Rachel Van Cleave, South Jordan communications manager. “This is not our first tumble-mageddon.”
Strong winds damaged city infrastructure, according to ABC4, as well as knocking over trees and damaging roads throughout Utah. Wind gusts of over 100 km/h (65mph) hit the state over the weekend.
South Jordan was hit with snow only hours after the tumbleweeds swept the city, as the arrival of a cold front continued the severe weather.
“We’ve had a few tumbleweeds but nothing like this,” local resident John Young told KSL TV. “It’s absolutely crazy.”
The incident was not without precedent. In Washington state in 2020, unlucky drivers saw in the new year trapped under a glut of 15ft tumbleweeds, after the plants forced authorities to close a highway in both directions. And in California in 2018 tumbleweeds shut down a whole town.
In 2016 a type of tumbleweed known as “hairy panic” inundated an entire Australian town.
In America, tumbleweeds are formed by invasive weeds called Russian thistle. Each winter after the plants die, the bushy parts snap off at the roots and blow away, tumbling across the landscape to disperse seeds.