TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Millions of locusts descended on Antananarivo in Madagascar on Thursday, August 28, 2014, causing massive traffic disruptions and darkening the skies over the capital, turning the city into a modern-day biblical scene that is reminiscent of the Ten Plagues of Egypt during the lifetime of Moses.
According to Annie Monard, a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official, it was not the first time that Antananarivo experienced such a scare. The locusts came to the city as changing weather patterns caused heat waves that forced the locusts out of their original habitats. As a result, they descended over Antananarivo like a cloud, numbering in their millions, in seek of food and shelter.
Climate change is thought to be a contributing factor to the phenomenon. Antananarivo witnessed a similar occurrence in April 2012, which was gotten so out of hand that the government had to declare a state of emergency.
To date, a joint effort between FAO and the Madagascan government has succeeded in controlling the plague of locust that has disrupted activities in the capital since it began on Thursday last week.
ANISA LUCIANA | ABC NEWS