<p><br /> Swarms of locusts have invaded an outback town in Queensland, damaging vegetation and crops.<br /> </p><p><br /> Locals said the locusts began thronging at Longreach last Thursday and by the end of the weekend, most of the trees were bald.<br /> </p><p><br /> "They really hit us about on Thursday so by Saturday and Sunday there are adults, really sort of eating up a fair bit of fodder," Mayor John Palmer said.<br /> </p><p><br /> Grasshoppers are known to change and become locusts to migrate when their colonies face food shortages due to increasing population.<br /> </p><p><br /> "Tree behind me, that was flourishing on Saturday before we went away for the weekend and we just come home and it was gone," a local resident Chris Ford said.<br /> </p><p><br /> The plague is said to be the biggest to hit the region in three decades. Farmers east of Longreach who were enjoying a relatively good harvest season are worried that the pests will reach their fields.<br /> </p>
