Hurricane Florence leaves thousands of dead and rotten fish on the highway

Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas and parts of Virginia earlier this month, flooding communities with heavy floods. The storm's historic rains stormed the region's infrastructure and killed 44 people, but with the waters finally withdrawing, an unexpected consequence of the storm came to light.

A once-flooded stretch of I-40 highway in eastern North Carolina has dried up to make way for thousands of dead, rotting fish now littering the road, according to the report. . Charlotte Observer. Images posted on Facebook by the Panderlea Fire Department document the damage and have quickly become viral since the weekend:

"This is on a stretch of I40 in Pender County, North Carolina, near Wallace," writes the fire department in the message. "Hurricane Florence caused massive flooding in our area and allowed fish to travel far from their natural habitat, stranding on the highway when the waters receded."

The stench was ruthless, according to other local accounts posted on Facebook. Jeff Garrett, maintenance supervisor for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, also shared footage of the scene, with rotten carcasses strewn across the road. One fish appeared to be eating another smaller fish when he died, in Garret's picture:

The storm closed 600 roads in total in North Carolina. Parts of the I-40 were essentially turned into a river after the storm surged, but Florence not only wreaked havoc on the dead fish's point of view: it also caused unprecedented damage to the agricultural sector. 5,500 pigs die due to rain and high winds.

The beleaguered area does not seem to have much respite in the short term as AccuWeather reports that "a wave of tropical rains could exacerbate floods and delay cleanup efforts" later this week.

Source: Charolette Observer via Splinter News