Millions of locusts are swarming in Kenya. These striking photos show just how bad the outbreak is

Grace Hauck, USA TODAY
A farmer looks back as she walks through swarms of desert locusts feeding on her crops, in Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. Desert locusts have swarmed into Kenya by the hundreds of millions from Somalia and Ethiopia, countries that haven't seen such numbers in a quarter-century, destroying farmland and threatening an already vulnerable region.

It's the worst locust outbreak to hit Kenya in 70 years.

Hundreds of millions of the small bugs are swarming in from neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia with unprecedented size and destructive potential, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

The Desert Locust, the most devastating of all locust species, is eating up crops in areas already susceptible to food and water shortages.

"This has become a situation of international dimensions that threatens the food security of the entire subregion," FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in a press release.

Some scientists say climate change is at fault: Heavy rainfall in locust breeding areas has allowed breeding conditions to remain favourable, FAO said. East Africa had one of its wettest years on record last year, thanks to warming waters in the Indian Ocean, Nairobi-based climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker told the Associated Press.

See these crazy photos of the swarms in Kenya.

Desert locusts cover branches in Katitika village.
Desert locusts cover branches in Katitika village.
A farmer's son cries out as he is surrounded by desert locusts while trying to chase them away from his crops.
A farmer's son cries out as he is surrounded by desert locusts while trying to chase them away from his crops.
Swarms of desert locusts fly in the sky above Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya.
Swarms of desert locusts fly in the sky above Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya.
Farmers look across as swarms of pink desert locusts create a thick blanket covering trees on their farmland in Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya.
Farmers look across as swarms of pink desert locusts create a thick blanket covering trees on their farmland in Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya.
Desert locusts cover branches.
Desert locusts cover branches.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Locusts swarm Kenya, across East Africa; climate change may be cause