Grey nomads travelling in north-east Victoria are being warned to beware an unusual road hazard … rolling mountains of tumbleweed!
The grass – which is also known as hairy panic or witch grass – has descended on the town of Laceby, south of Wangaratta, in plague proportions.
And, after seven weeks of the infestation, local residents have had enough.
“It hit its peak last Wednesday when it was up to my roof and I couldn’t get access to the front door,” Leanne Gloury told the ABC. “This is the first time I’ve seen it this bad — it’s just out of control.”
Wangaratta Mayor Ken Clarke said a road between Glenrowan and Milawa had been struck by a tumbleweed storm at the weekend, and visibility was so poor that the council erected hazard signs and police were called in to control traffic.
“It’s something that happens with weather conditions,” said Cr Clarke. “It’s just an act of God.”
There are more than 40 native and introduced species of hairy panic, or panicum, in Australia.
Plant and weed expert Leslie Weston, from Charles Sturt University, told the ABC that the weed was well suited to Australia’s hot summers, and was found in over-grazed pastures and summer fallows.
Professor Weston’s research shows the introduced species has spread more quickly over the past decade, getting into South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
She said Panicum hillmanii, found near north-east Victoria and the Riverina, was introduced from southern America. It is a short-lived perennial growing up to 0.5m high.
“It was developed as a grazing crop, but here we’ve found that panicum species are noxious weeds,” Professor Weston said. “As part of our projects, we’re looking at strategies. Because the weed is so widespread, we have to look at management on a wider scale.”
A similar epidemic hit Wangaratta two years ago when tumbleweed besieged about 20 houses.
