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With torrential rains sweeping through many cities on the U.S. east coast in early September, in the wake of Hurricane Ida, authorities have started counting casualties and property damage, but questions are raised about what happened to the inhabitants of the underground “mice” and their fate, on which a CNN report focuses.

The report makes reference to these rodents, especially with the diseases they can carry, pointing out that there is no inventory of the number of mice in cities in the US states affected by the hurricane, and it is likely that their number will reach millions.

According to experts, given the amount of rain that fell and amounted to eight centimeters per hour in New York, for example, many mice living in sewers would have been in danger of death due to flash floods.

Indeed, dead mice were spotted thrown by the cyclone on the beaches of the city.

New York City Department of Health spokesperson Michael Lanza said the department knows some rats drown in severe flooding, but because the city does not conduct rat counts, it there is no data on their number.

But environmental biologist and visiting researcher at Fordham University in New York, Michael Parsons, describes the mouse as a “skillful swimmer,” which can swim 800 meters or more, adding that it is “also cunning and able to move to higher ground if given the opportunity. “.

Experts point out that “even if catastrophic flooding results in the capture and death of many rats underground, it is likely that many more will find their way to safety.”

Looking at how these animals react to seizures, Parsons predicts that the mice will not only survive Ida, “but will thrive.”

Parsons cites what happened to mice during the Corona outbreak, as “New York City rat populations adapted to changes in their natural food resources resulting from restaurant closures at the height of distancing social. The weaker or unlucky mice died, while others found a way to survive, it multiplied rapidly. “

Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Michael Bloom, studied the effects of Hurricane Katrina on mice in New Orleans, and his research, published in August, showed that 12 years after the historic storm of 2005, mice thrived in areas hard hit by flooding.

Bloom’s research confirms that due to leaving many buildings vacant, delayed garbage collection and the effects of the hurricane, rodents have increased as they found the environment for their gathering, noting that “what happens to rodents in the city after a major flood is largely determined by the human response once the water recedes.” .

“In the case of Hurricane Katrina, refrigerators and debris emptied from damaged homes also remained on the streets, providing food and resources for mice,” said Claudia Riegel, director of the New Orleans Council on Mosquito, Termite and Rong Control.

Thus, the report says there is an urgent need to manage and respond to disasters, as breeding mice is something public health experts warn against, as they carry dozens of pathogens, including salmonella and Leptospira bacteria.

Leptospira bacteria cause leptospirosis, which results from exposure to the urine of animals carrying the disease. The infection can cause fever, chills and vomiting a few days after exposure, and can lead to kidney or liver failure.

“If you see a mouse, you have to assume it has some kind of pathogen,” Rigel warns.

Rigel pointed out that to reduce the number of mice and prevent disease transmission, storms need to be dealt with quickly and their effects quickly cleaned up, taking into account the placement of lids on trash cans and whatever rodents can. to eat.