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'Hairy Panic' Tumbleweed Takes Over Australian City

Talk about invasive species.

It’s called “hairy panic” and it is causing quite a fuss.

The giant tumbleweeds have surrounded homes in the city of Wangaratta, Australia, to the point where one local man joked he couldn’t find his car.

“It makes it difficult to get the car out in the morning — if you can find it,” Jason Perna told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “It’s just another day in paradise."

The city’s council held an emergency meeting about the issue Thursday, ABC reported. It may decide to send sweepers out to clean up the whole mess.

Hairy panic, or Panicum effusum as it’s known scientifically, is a short-lived perennial that tends to be half a metre high. They blow around in the wind and pile up along buildings and fences, according to the New South Wales government.

There are many other species of Panicum, or grass-like plants, but others don't have long “hairs” coming off their leaves like this one does.

The onslaught in Wangaratta may have blown in from nearby farmland that’s been neglected, Perna said.

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