This massive swarm of winged insects taking over city streets and captured by stunned residents sparked online concerns of an oncoming disaster.
The buzz-arre spectacle was filmed by unnamed witnesses in the middle of Yiyang, a prefecture-level city in southern China’s Hunan Province.
Phone footage shared on Douyin – China’s version of TikTok- shows thousands of mayflies taking over the streets, slowing down vehicles and pedestrians attempting to pass through.
The swarm, filling the air between the ground and the lit street lamps, almost appeared like a snow blizzard that left onlookers in awe.
One Douyin user titled ‘people on the go’ commented: “This is the harbinger of a typhoon.”
Another user titled ‘yang fan hang’ wrote: “Strange events are happening one after another, could it be a sign?”
While user ‘Don’ said: “I thought it was hale.”
Locals said although the strange event is typically seen every autumn, this year’s number of mayflies came as a bit of a shock to them as well.
Similar to a dragonfly, the mayfly can also be found near rivers and lakes, which is why they swarmed this one particular area in China.
They have a very short life span, spending most of their time underwater as larvae and emerging as adults once the weather warms up, after which they only survive for one or two days.
According to the locals, this unique phenomenon lasts for approximately half a month.
