Attack of the giant tumbleweed: California town swamped in invasion

Rory Carroll in Los Angeles
Updated

Heavy winds sent thousands of tumbleweeds into Victorville, blanketing yards and piling up outside homes

One person was trapped for two hours until work crews could remove the tumbleweed.
One person was trapped for two hours until work crews could remove the tumbleweed. Photograph: Lena Howland/AP

They struck Victorville with little warning, rolling and tumbling up streets, barrelling past cars, virtually burying homes and prompting calls to 911 about a mass invasion.

No, not Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, but the tumbleweeds that took over the California desert town this week did evoke the 1978 film and cult horror pastiche.

Heavy winds sent thousands of tumbleweeds into Victorville on Monday in what some residents called an invasion, with the prickly intruders blanketing yards and piling up outside homes.

“It was just too much... they were just coming and coming,” Ralph Zavale told ABC7.

“It’s an invasion, definitely,” said Tanya Speight. “Normally you get a few flying down the street or whatnot but never this many. It’s never been this bad.”

Nav Mangat told the network one of her neighbors was trapped for two hours until work crews could remove the pileup from his front doorway and garage. “There was like a hundred of these bushes. They were just flowing like it was a tornado yesterday,” Mangat said.

A city spokeswoman estimated 100 to 150 homes were affected.

Victorville, a high desert community north-east of Los Angeles, is routinely buffeted by the weeds. However 60mph winds unleashed an unusually big swarm on Monday, prompting surreal scenes posted on social media.

“Attack of the Killer Tomatoes sequel,” one commenter tweeted. “Mother Earth is not happy,” said another.

The San Bernardino county fire department and a company called Burrtec Waste Industries helped crews from Victorville’s public works, code enforcement and community services division to purge the tumbleweeds on Tuesday.

“The primary goal is to clear the front of the houses, to remove the tumbleweeds in order to allow residents safe access to their homes,” Sue Jones, a city spokeswoman, told the Daily Press. “With the winds as strong as they are, as soon as they clear certain areas, more tumbleweeds are blowing right back in.”