Cicadas “invade” journalists’ plane traveling with Joe Biden, delaying them by seven hours

Washington, the capital of the most powerful country in the world has been invaded for weeks by small living beings that are a nightmare for everyday life.

Hundreds of millions of cicadas do not let the inhabitants sleep with their deafening noise, they annoy with their sticking on clothes, on the face and on the hair. And now the insects have reached the height of slow down a plane full of journalists who was traveling from Washington to the UK to cover President Joe Biden’s tour.

A dam of cicadas (or cicadas) caused the departure delay of about 7 hours the plane of the journalists who were to accompany the head of the White House to your first trip abroad, Tuesday night.

Apparently the bugs entered the plane’s turbines and forced a change in the machine that moved the press that was traveling a day before the president in Britain for a Mountain peak with G7 leaders.

On the back of the president’s neck

Biden left on Wednesday and was also hit by a cicada, at the foot of Air Force One.

The president had to scare away an insect that had landed on his neck when he was in conversation with the Air Force officer who had met him at the Andrews base for his flight.

“Watch out for the cicadas,” Biden told reporters watching the scene. “I had one. He got me,” he laughed.

On Monday, the plane carrying Vice President Kamala Harris from Washington to Guatemala had to return after half an hour due to a “technical defect” in a turbine, although it was not reported that the cicadas have something to do with the incident.

Annoying and long lasting

Washington is one of many parts of the country attacked by swarms of cicadas that came out after 17 years underground and that in addition to making its characteristic deafening noise (the equivalent of having a lawn mower on all day) tend to dive into moving vehicles and unsuspecting pedestrians.

The cicada invasion is a rare natural biological phenomenon that occurs every 17 years, with more than 2 million insects per hectare, not only in Washington but in more than 15 states on the east coast of the United States.

This is not just any cicada, as there are many varieties. This is called the “periodic cicada Brood X”, which It is the longest-living insect in the United States: its occurrence every 17 years is in its genetics and the exact cause is uncertain. They measure between 2 and 5 cm and have red, bulging eyes.

After almost 17 years underground, immature cicadas emerge from the ground and then brown nymphs crawl along a vertical surface (posts, fences, tree trunks, house siding, etc.), where they will shed their skin and become adults.

A few days after emergence, adult males begin to “sing” (make loud sounds) to attract females for mating.

After mating, females lay eggs on small twigs, and adults die.

Six to 10 weeks later, the eggs hatch, tiny nymphs fall from the branches and they dig the ground about 10 to 15 centimeters and there they stay to feed on tree roots for 17 years until the cycle begins again.

Cicadas do not bite or sting, so they are harmless to humans or animals, but for many they can be very annoying.

Washington, correspondent