CRANBERRY HOUSING UNITS OVERRUN BY MASSIVE FOLIAGE OVERNIGHT

From the Pittsburgh Press North Section:

Five condo units of the Misty Pines housing complex were overrun, seemingly overnight, by thick vine and weed growth, requiring the owners to move out temporarily, until professional landscapers could be called in to remove the overgrowth.

"We don't understand it. Our lawn was neatly trimmed yesterday afternoon, and when we awoke this morning, the entire back half of our home was covered with thick, thorny vines and roots. We can't even open the back patio doors and plants are even coming in through cracks in the walls and beneath the doors. We may have to move permanently." Said Dolores Crumb, owner of 519 Teal Terrace in Misty Pines. Her unit and four of her neighbors' suffered the same fate.

City police called in experts from the University of Pittsburgh to examine the plant life before it was removed. Expert Horticulturist Ellen Mayfair indicated that initial studies of the overgrowth seemed to indicate a plant disease causing rapid, massive growth. Officials are performing further studies on the samples, to determine whether there is a danger of additional outgrowths, or the spread of the apparent plant disease.