SHOCKING footage shows the moment mice pelted down to the ground in Australia as farmers battle the worst rodent plague in decades.
An endless stream of mice – both dead and alive – can be seen hammering down in the clip, shot in rural New South Wales.
Mice poured out of a farmer's silo as they tried to clean it out following a bumper grain harvest.
The horror footage was shared on Twitter by ABC reporter Lucy Thackray, who said it started "raining mice".
“Even if grains in silos, mice can get to it," she tweeted.
"Like Tyler Jones discovered in Tullamore when cleaning out the auger and it started raining mice."
Pressure is being mounted on the NSW government for support as farmers fear losing their entire crops at the hands of the mouse invasion, reports news.com.au, which has raged on for weeks on end.
The farming delegation is pushing for those affected to be handed financial aid of up to $25,000 (£13,800) per farm to buy bait.
Authorities are battling to contain swarms of mice wreaking havoc in the region, as the rodents leave mountains of poo on shop floors and even bite hospital patients.
Farmers who made hay bales for the winter expect to lose many to the fast-reproducing rodents.
Local media reported that just one pair of mice can produce on average up to 500 offspring in a season.
In another horrifying clip, captured on a farm in Gilgandra – a five-hour drive northwest of Sydney – it shows thousands of rodents scurrying from under pipes and over machinery.
Farmer Ron Mckay told the ABC: “At night… the ground is just moving with thousands and thousands of mice just running around.”
And shop owners have said they are spending six hours a day cleaning up excrement left by the mice.
One grocer in the town of Gulargambone said: “The shop stinks because they're dying inside, so people are going elsewhere to get their groceries.”
In March, the NSW health department said that three people had been bitten by mice while being treated in hospital in the areas of Gulargambone, Tottenham and Walgett.
A spokesperson said: “Reports of residents or patients receiving minor bites have been made … and appropriate treatment has been provided.”
According to experts, the plague is linked to unusually heavy summer remains in the region following years of drought.
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