The ecosystem may be impacted by these intruders’ predation on native species, such as earthworms that care for the soil.

The worms have been in the Lone Star State for decades, but since coming to the US from Southeast Asia in the late 1800s, they have proliferated all across the country, from the Pacific Northwest to New York and, most recently, North Texas.

As witnessed in numerous viral TikTok videos of the ground-breaking phenomena, these wiggling menaces were forced to the surface by the torrential torrents, despite their preference to stay underground out of the sunshine.

“In one of the creepy videos, the worms are wriggling on the surface of