Breaking News English Lesson: Hairy Panic

A weed is a big problem in the small Australian town of Wangaratta, Victoria. The weed is called "hairy panic" and it is burying homes and buildings in the town. Hairy panic is a grass that grows everywhere in Australia. The dead grass gathers in large bundles, which are blown across the land. There is a lot of it in the town. It is piled as high as the roof with some houses, so people cannot reach their homes. It looks like a scene from a horror movie.

Many residents have left town until the weed has gone. They are tired of spending hours a day clearing piles of dead grass from their gardens. It is a battle to fight through the weeds to get into their home. One resident said the weed was "mentally draining". Another resident said it was difficult to find his car in the morning. However, he called it, "a first-world problem". He said: "We don't put it on the scale of any of the famine or poverty going on in the world."