<p><strong>In an arachnophobe's worst nightmare, swarms of spiders spin webs in a bush in&nbsp;<a href="http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/floods-profile/">flood</a>-ravaged&nbsp;<a href="http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/map-machine#s=h&amp;c=-35.12038932391834, 147.35448455810547&amp;z=10">Wagga Wagga (map)</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/australia-guide/">Australia</a>, Tuesday.</strong></p><p>After a week of record rain, floodwaters across eastern Australia have forced the ground-dwelling spiders—and at least 13,000 people—to flee their homes, according to Reuters.</p><p>The rampant webs blanketing vast stretches of Wagga Wagga are likely "a dispersal mechanism that allows [spiders] to move out of places where they'd surely be drowned," said <a href="http://www.ent.uga.edu/personnel/faculty/matthews.htm">Robert Matthews</a>, a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Georgia.</p><p>Producing large quantities of silk creates a sort of "vast trampoline" that supports the spiders as they're fleeing the water, he noted.</p><p>Matthews added he he has never seen such a "striking phenomenon."</p><p>"Gee, it's impressive."</p><p>(Related:&nbsp;<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110331-pakistan-flood-spider-trees-webs/">"Pictures: Trees Cocooned in Webs After Flood."</a>)</p>