(AP) - Deadly flooding from Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina has also disrupted the underground nests of yellow jackets, bees and other insects, causing them to swarm and sting people struggling to recover from the storm.
It’s caused such a surge in requests for medication to protect people allergic to stings that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is buying Benadryl and epinephrine injections to help fill requests through hospitals, emergency medical personnel and doctors. And the humanitarian aid group Direct Relief says it has sent more than 2,000 EpiPen injections to community health centers, clinics and pharmacies across western North Carolina.
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Who saw that one coming? I mean, after all the shit those people have been through, pissed off hornets and bees would be the last thing I'd expect.
I had those underground yellow jackets in the yard a few times back in Georgia. They live underground because they're trying to dig their way back to Hell where they came from.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it. I hate those little demons. One of the great moments of my life was when I was mowing the lawn and mowed over a next. Fortunately and amazingly I noticed just as the mower passed across the opening. I just stopped the mower right there and left it running. I walked away and didn't come back until dark....but I returned with a half gallon of gasoline as a treat for any survivors. Good times, good times.
DeleteYellow Jackets are nasty little fuckers. I got hit about 10 times at once when we were riding deep in the AR Ozarks. If on a horse, get off asap and run thru the bushes. (The horse will help you get off)
ReplyDeleteDid not have that on the bingo card. Snakes maybe, not hornets.
ReplyDeleteI haven't experienced any hyped-up yellow jackets here in western NC so far. Word around is the bears are not taking the Hurricane aftermath too well however. I guess most of the garbage cans they usually feed from are under water and mud.
ReplyDeleteGood God, those people must be at wits end. Your World, your life's work,crushed, and getting attacked by those things?!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know those were a thing till I popped a few rounds off at a target I've had set up for a few months. Stuff in the air? Walked about five feet to see if I could see what it was. Four in the head,four across the back,one under the arm,,in Seconds.. They are Fast..
As if the folks in NC didn't have enough problems to deal with.
ReplyDeleteI've only had one bad reaction to a meat bee bite and it was a doozie, as in going into a rolling-on-the-ground delusional frenzy. It passed quickly enough, but it wasn't something I'd ever want to repeat again.
I've got a picture on my old computer of a swarm of meat bees eating a rattlesnake down to the bone, working from head to tail, only to fly off and bite somebody and make them convulse. Nasty critters.
Like Mikey said, they're creatures from Hell.