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Hurricane Ida destroyed homes, left millions without electricity and killed at least two people. But what is perhaps most worrying is that it has endangered the water that floods the communities.
Authorities say a man was attacked by an alligator in some of Louisiana’s flooded waters on Monday. The man’s wife witnessed the attack that occurred near the town of Slidell, which is just across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, said Jason Gaubert, spokesperson for St Tammany Fire District No. 1, at USA TODAY.
Gaubert said the attack tore off the man’s arm and his wife went to call for help. When she returned, he had disappeared in the floodwaters. The man’s body was not found and authorities were investigating.
The St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office said the man’s wife heard a commotion outside and saw the alligator attacking her 71-year-old husband, according to NBC affiliate WDSU. She helped him up a few steps and out of the flood waters. But after going to get medical supplies and calling for help, he was no longer there.
The intimidating nature of alligator attacks in post-storm flooded communities is a topic officials discussed earlier today.
Jefferson Ward President Cynthia Lee Sheng noted that some swamps had been inundated and the dangers were real to first responders and people living in the area.
“It’s an area that has a lot of swamps, alligators, very dangerous conditions,” she told CNN on Monday, noting that first responders had to wait for daylight to inspect the area and rescue anyone who needs help.
She added that some areas have experienced flooding “beyond chest height. It’s all the way to the top of the roof.”
Although the South is home to around 5 million alligators, attacks by reptiles during or after hurricanes are rare.
And researchers at the University of Florida told the Florida Times-Union, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2019 that alligators typically curl up in their natural habitat as a storm approaches. Reptiles have sensors that allow them to detect changes in pressure before a storm hits.
“They are a lot smarter than people,” Joe Wasilewski, a UF conservation biologist who has worked with crocodiles and alligators for more than 40 years, said in the Times-Union article. “They instantly seek shelter. They have burrows or caves that they call home, usually under a mud or a canal, and trust me, the first thing they’re going to do is enter those burrows and these caves. ”
But researchers say alligators pose a danger after a storm, especially in areas near water bodies. They can venture through flood waters into neighborhoods and communities that typically do not see such reptiles.
“When we have a hurricane, the temperature is pretty high, we have a lot, a lot of water, and when the water level rises, the alligators tend to move around,” James Perran Ross, wildlife biologist at University of Florida and alligator expert, said in 2019.
Alligators have been spotted during and after major storms in the south over the years.
After Hurricane Sally made landfall last year, a woman recorded a large alligator passing through her community in Gulf Shores, Alabama, according to CBS News. And before Tropical Storm Eta hit Florida last year, a mammoth-sized alligator was spotted crossing a golf course in Naples, Florida, according to NBC News.
And these are not just natural encounters. About 250 alligators from a ranch and visitor center escaped their pens in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.
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