A swath of Los Angeles has devolved into a wasteland with rats scurrying among piles of decaying garbage and squalid tent cities, according to a series of stomach-churning photos that the Los Angeles Times says depict the “collapse of a city that’s lost control.”

“The city of Los Angeles has become a giant trash receptacle,” columnist Steve Lopez complained on Sunday.

The decay covers large chunks of Skid Row, a sprawling 50-block area that is believed to be the base for around 4,200 homeless people. One LAPD officer is believed to have contracted Typhoid from the miasma.

“What century is this?” Lopez asked. “Is it the 21st century in the largest city of a state that ranks among the world’s most robust economies, or did someone turn back the calendar a few hundred years?”

He described someone even dumping “a fat load of poop” in the streets among the rest of the dirt and depravity.

“It used to be that illegal dumpers were a little more discreet, tossing their refuse in fields and gullies and remote outposts,” Lopez wrote. “Now city streets are treated like dumpsters, or even toilets.”

The conditions are so untenable that LAPD officers are threatening to seek transfers after at least one developed typhoid, according to the Times. Five others are showing symptoms of intestinal issues.

The LAPD said in a statement that “our police officers often patrol in adverse environments and can be exposed to various dangerous elements.”

With Wires