Orange County Residents Face Rat Invasion

Hillsborough resident Faye Evans says 20 to 30 rats are coming up through her house.

"It's like someone's stalking you," Evans says. "Underneath my house, you hear them so bad that it wakes us up. My husband stays up all night long setting traps and killing rats."

Troy Ferguson, who lives across from Evans, has three children and is afraid for their health. He says the rats have eaten the insulation under the house so thoroughly that he cannot use his heating and air conditioning unit.

"You don't really see them much because they roam at nighttime," Ferguson says. "You really can't store anything as far as building materials or anything like that, because they will get in it."

The Orange County Health Department says the rat invasion began two months ago when construction crews started working on an office complex near the neighborhood, destroying the rats' natural habitat.