Thick blankets of spiderwebs across the Gippsland region have been captured in chilling photos shared online.

The photographs were posted to Reddit with the caption “if the floods weren’t enough, I give you, spider apocalypse”.

The East Gippsland region was hard hit in last week’s floods, which resulted in thousands of Victorians being evacuated from their homes.

Like humans, it appears the spiders have sought higher, dryer ground.

What’s occurring is known as ballooning, where cooler weather conditions have resulted in spiders covering stretches of land in cloudlike cobwebs in an attempt to shelter themselves from wet conditions on the ground.

It’s a temporary survival tactic that allows the creatures to continue to hunt while the ground dries out.

With more rain forecast for the end of this week, there’s a chance the arachnids will continue to make their presence known.

Another 50mm of rain could fall in East Gippsland this week.