The small Victorian town on Wangaratta looks more like the set of a Hollywood Western these days, courtesy of the fact it has been inundated by two-metre-high tumbleweeds.
The weeds, known as hairy panic grass, have blanketed homes, cars and driveways, and the local council has met in emergency session to discuss how to combat the problem. It is reportedly considering sending out street sweepers to help clean up the mess, and is also liaising with the Country Fire Authority.
Local resident, Jason Perna, told the ABC he suspected the grass was blowing in from a nearby paddock that has been neglected by its owner.
“We’re on the border of a farm-zoned rural property and a couple of years ago they planted a crop of hay in there … they didn’t plant anything last year and it’s just derived from the grass that’s died,” he said. “I walked out the front door this morning to find a good six-metre spread of tumbleweed across the front of the house — again. It makes it difficult to get the car out in the morning — if you can find it.”
But Mr Perna said the community was taking a philosophical approach to the issue.
“It’s a first-world problem. We don’t put it on the scale of any of the famine or poverty going on in the world,” he said. “We are looking at ways to capitalise on this stuff. Whether we go into the production of scarecrows or raise some money and get some goats in to eat this stuff away.”
