Tumbleweeds ‘invasion’ hits towns in Utah and California

Two states kilometres apart, residents in various neighbourhoods are finding themselves dealing with the same enemy: tumbleweeds.

Residents in Utah communities like West Jordan and Eagle Mountain and homeowners in Victorville, Calif., are both being inundated with the prickly weeds because of gusting winds earlier this week.

Though they are common in the high desert community, like that of Victorville, most residents told The Washington Post it’s one of the worst invasions they’ve seen.

With the weeds reaching almost as high as people’s roofs and filling up backyards, some people have found themselves unable to even enter their homes.

READ MORE: Broken glass falls from balcony of high-rise condo during windstorm

“It seems like every time we get the tumbleweeds cleared up, the wind blows and blows them right back again,” Bryan Bagwell, who has lived in the area since 2011, told the Post. “It’s a nasty nightmare.”

For others like Claudia Rivas, it’s become an ordeal trying to clear out the collection of weeds building in her backyard.

City crews are trying to deal with the weeds, but they can only take care of what’s in front of the homes leaving Rivas with a problem.

“I have my pool, my jacuzzi, I can’t even see it. It’s all covered in those things,” Rivas told CBS affiliate KCBS. “Every time I go out there, I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s more.'”

The buffeting winds on Monday caused what Ralph Zavala described as “like dodging balls” as they could be seen flying over people’s heads if they went outside.

Zavala told the Post that due to the weeds being full of thorny spines, many had to don gloves and even pitchforks to work on removing the invasive plant.

“It’s an invasion, definitely,” Tanya Speight told CNN affiliate KABC. “Normally, you get a few flying down the street or whatnot, but never this many that will stack up even this much, and this is mild compared to what it was actually in the backyard and in the front of the house.”

The high winds also left some people without power and knocked down trees.

California is not the only place facing the weeds though — Utah also saw a plague of tumbleweeds roll into town.

The town of West Jordan saw the plants, also known as the Russian thistle, pile into some yards.

Bruce Butcher told KSL-TV he was shocked seeing the image of a person’s home pop up on social media.

WATCH: Utah home left nearly buried after ‘invasion’ of tumbleweeds

0:54 Utah home left nearly buried after ‘invasion’ of tumbleweeds

“I haven’t seen anything like it ever,” he said, adding he had called the city to see if someone could help the homeowner.

“They said, ‘This is an emergency — we better come out and get this taken care of.’ It was probably 10 weeds deep before they could get to the front door.”

Jordan Boggs was also hit by the weeds in Eagle Mountain.

She said once she got to their parking lot, there were tumbleweeds everywhere so she hurried inside her home.

“By about noon, there were tumbleweeds piled up all over our neighbours’ houses and there were just tons of them blowing through. It was just crazy,” Boggs told Good4Utah.

There were also weeds several feet deep stacked up at Rick and Dana Bishop’s home, which also blocked their car.

“It builds around, over this fence, and then they just hop over,” Bishop said.

Dana said in an interview that they’ve faced cleanups before but this was “the most we’ve ever had.”

READ MORE: Tumbleweeds turn family’s backyard oasis into massive mess

The city’s director of parks has advised people not to burn the weeds, with West Jordan echoing that statement.

Tumbleweeds float into the wind when they die, breaking off from their roots, and scatter seeds as they fly about, meaning residents in both states will likely have more tumbleweeds to look forward to next year.