Gators, swamp critters add to woes of Storm Fay victims

MELBOURNE, Fla. — As if a fourth straight day of rain from Tropical Storm Fay wasn't enough, weary residents are now dealing with quintessentially Floridian fallout: alligators, snakes and other critters driven from their swampy lairs into flooded streets, backyards and doorsteps.

National Guardsman Steve Johnson was wading through hip-deep water Wednesday night when his flashlight revealed an alligator drifting through a neighborhood of flooded mobile homes.

"I said, The heck is that?' and there was an alligator floating by," Johnson said. "I took my flashlight and was like, You've got to be kidding me, a big old alligator swimming around here.' "

The erratic and stubborn storm has dumped more than 2 feet of rain along parts of Florida's low-lying central Atlantic coast this week. The system continued its slow, wet march Thursday by curving back from the ocean to hit the state for a third time.

Alligators live in all 67 Florida counties, and state officials say they receive more than 18,000 alligator-related complaints each year. But the floodwaters heighten the risk of an encounter with people because the creatures search for a safe place to wait out the storm.

"They are trying to find dry land, someplace to hide," said officer Lenny Salberg of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The threat of alligators, snakes and other creatures is one more problem confronting weary residents as they clean up their waterlogged homes. At least two alligators were captured in residential neighborhoods, and several others were spotted near homes.

In Carla Viotto's backyard in Indialantic, outside of Melbourne, snakes were swimming around in 4 inches of water.

"It looked just like a junk yard," she said.

Flooding was especially acute along the Atlantic coast from Port St. Lucie to Cape Canaveral, with water reaching depths of 5 feet in some neighborhoods. Gov. Charlie Crist visited the area Thursday and President Bush issued a federal disaster declaration for the affected parts of Florida to help with the storm's costs.

Brevard County officials estimated building damage would cost $12 million, mostly from flooding, and $2.6 million in damage from beach erosion.

"This is the worst I've absolutely ever seen it," said Mike White, 57, who was rescued by the National Guard as water crept up to the door of his mobile home.

Fay, which was responsible for at least 20 deaths in the Caribbean and two in Florida, is just the fourth storm in recorded history to hit the Florida peninsula with tropical storm intensity three separate times. The most recent was Hurricane Donna in 1960, according to Daniel Brown, a specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

Police said an Indiana tourist drowned after going swimming in rough waters churned up by the storm at Neptune Beach. To the south in Volusia County, authorities reported a second woman also drowned in Fay-generated waves.

Flooding was also possible in Georgia, where the southern half of the state's Atlantic coastline was under a tropical storm warning. Some parts of Georgia could get up to 6 inches of rain.

A tropical storm watch was posted for the Gulf coast of Florida from the Suwannee River to Indian Pass, in case the storm emerges over water again.

With the rain moving to the north, the sun began to dry out some Florida neighborhoods hit by floods earlier in the week.

 

 

Invasion! Critters run wild in Central Florida after Fay

Willoughby Mariano and Vincent Bradshaw

Sentinel Staff Writers

August 29, 2008

The offenders' bodies lay side by side, some still bloody, in the back of Jerry Flynn's pickup Thursday afternoon.

One menaced State Road 46. At least one prowled too close to a home. All of them were trouble. Thanks to the floodwaters of Tropical Storm Fay, the numbers of nuisance alligators are growing, Flynn and others said. Calls to the trapper have more than doubled since the storm.

"With waters coming up, it gives them more room to get in trouble," Flynn said. "And we're the trouble stoppers."

First, Tropical Storm Fay brought wind and driving rain. Then floods deluged homes. Sinkholes ate trees.


Now it's time to brace for roving alligators. And killer ants. And massive mosquito swarms. And angry, frazzled squirrels.

Flooding has turned wildlife habitats upside down, sending critters outside their typical territories. In the process, humans are having unpleasant -- and sometimes deadly -- encounters with the natural world.

'Fire ants can swim'

In the Chuluota area, a man died Tuesday after floodwaters swept fire ants into his home. They stung him repeatedly, causing anaphylactic shock, and the flooding slowed paramedics' response time.

"Fire ants can swim," said Mark Tyson, an Orlando exterminator with Critter Control.


"They are very resilient," he said, "and they can float for a good day or two until they grip on to something or get onto dry land."

"You can actually see the [fire] ants floating in a mass," said Bob Belmont, director for pest prevention at Massey Services in Orlando. People usually become victim to fire-ant stings when they are wading through floodwater, but you can get stung in a boat, too.

"They are going to go up the oars," he said.

Count bees, yellow jackets and rodents among possible flooding threats, too, Belmont said.


"Rising waters can force any pests out of the ground," he said, "and anything down in the dirt can get out of the water and into homes."

Snakes alive!

Water snakes, including venomous cottonmouths, can wind up touring subdivisions they typically avoid.

"They're enjoying the high water," said Henry Cabbage, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The flooding can agitate docile creatures such as rabbits, possums, raccoons and squirrels. Driven out of their homes, they're easy targets for predators and are stressed, Cabbage said.


Other threats are more mundane. Volusia County is rolling out 10 fogging trucks, two specially equipped helicopters and 28 mosquito-control employees to combat swarms. Because residents might be outside working to repair damage after the storm, more people might contract mosquito-borne diseases, so local governments are stepping up their attacks.

"All of a sudden, we have bugs hatching everywhere," said Edward Horvath, Seminole's mosquito-control-program manager. And the worst is yet to come. "Right now, the mosquito population is nothing compared to what we're going to have in a week or so."

Finding new lands


And, of course, there are alligators. Experts say they become reptilian Christopher Columbuses when Central Florida floods.

They mean no harm, said Harry Dutton, an alligator expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"They're really just exploring," he said.

No matter.

On Thursday, Flynn and his agents baited hooks with meat, attached them to ropes and tied them to trees. When the gators bit, they reeled them in.

Some alligators are harder to get than others.


Flynn has the scars to prove it: Red sores from bite marks dot both of his arms, and his hands were still sore from rope burn he gathered while trying to reel in one of Thursday's catches.

"We try to be good, but these things can get around you pretty quick," Flynn said.