Horror movie nightmare: Thousands of roaches pour out of manhole, invade neighborhood

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Water Department is hoping they've stopped thousands of cockroaches from climbing out of a manhole in Bridesburg.

Tommy Cranston has a good sense of humor, but he wasn't laughing when hundreds - by some accounts, thousands - of roaches invaded his street.

"I couldn't believe I woke up dreaming about a roach, that's how bad it was," one resident said.

Watch Action Cam video in Bridesburg where residents are dealing with a cockroach infestation problem.

"They were coming out of the manhole cover over there, that little slit. But they were pumping out. Did you ever see that movie Creep Show? It was something to behold," Cranston said.

A cell phone video taken after the roaches had drawn their last breath was disturbing enough, but apparently nothing compared to their active invasion of Salmon and Plum streets.

"They were straight-up nasty," added Cranston, using his hands to demonstrate their size. "They were about this big, and they fly."

"You couldn't see the asphalt underneath the truck, there were so many of them," said Pat Wall.

It's hard to believe, but folks here tell me this Bridesburg Battle of the Bugs had a silver lining: it's brought everyone together to combat the creepy, crawly critters.

"When the going gets tough, they're out here," Wall said of her neighbors. "I was super proud of everybody the way they pitched in."

"They were spraying them with spray and then stomping them, then spraying them and stomping them before they went into people's houses," Sandra Schwinger said.

That was Monday. On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Water Department flushed the manhole, and vacuumed out debris from the inlets.

Water Department spokesman John Digiulio said, "And behind them came the Health Department to put an insecticide into the sewer to hopefully treat and remediate the situation."

There is still no word on what exactly triggered the sudden invasion.

But this entire, normally welcoming community is hoping it will never see an influx of visitors like this again.

"If it stays that way, I'll be very happy," Schwinger said.