Terrifying alligator warning as hurricane to spark surge in sightings
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DEVASTATING flooding caused by Hurricane Milton could bring another danger to affected people – alligators.
As millions try to evacuate or hunker down ahead of the storm making landfall, a
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Christopher Gillette, who runs an animal sanctuary in Putnam County, northern Florida, issued the warning on his Instagram account.
Sharing pictures of his Bellowing Acres sanctuary being prepped for Hurricane Milton, Gillette urged Floridians to be vigilant
“There will be lots of disturbed animals on the move, they’re trying to survive the storm too,” he wrote.
Gillette warned that alligators pose a particular threat because they are able to hold their breath for up to six hours at a time.
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But he told People that the alligators at his sanctuary would not be going anywhere.
“Our adult alligators and crocodiles will be totally fine through the hurricane, we’ll be bringing birds and some of the smaller animals into the house, but these big guys? They’re going to be fine and happy,” he said.
Gillette gave advice to his followers on Instagram on how to watch out for dangerous wildlife displaced by Hurricane Milton.
Urging people to show compassion, he warned that many animals will be “flooded out of their homes and seeking refuge in unusual places.”
He told people to leave snakes alone, adding, “Keep in mind the majority of venomous snake bites happen when people are trying to kill the snake, leave them be!”
There will be lots of disturbed animals on the move, they’re trying to survive the storm too
Christopher Gillette
Gillette told Floridians who find an injured animal to try and contact a wildlife center, but added that everyone would be “overwhelmed.”
This isn’t the first time alerts of this kind have been issued in the wake of powerful storms in the southeastern United States.
In September 2020, an alligator was pictured swimming in an Alabama street in the wake of Hurricane Sally.
While in August 2021, urgent alligator warnings were issued during Storm Ida, as shock pics showed the beasts in people’s backyards and swimming through floodwaters in Louisiana.
It comes as…
Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 storm, is forecast to make landfall Wednesday night.
Experts warn it could be one of the most destructive storms on record.
It follows hot on the heels of Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, killing 227 people.
Some 7.3 million people live in the 15 Florida counties where mandatory evacuation orders are in place.
Officials in Tampa on the west coast of Florida, which is directly in the path of the storm, have urged people to leave.
“You need to help us by evacuating,” Tampa Fire Rescue’s chief pleaded on Wednesday morning.
“I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude.”
As the Sunshine State readies itself for the storm, preparations have been made to provide shelter for those unable or unwilling to evacuate.
Pictures show a Florida baseball stadium transformed into a relief center ahead of the storm.
Tropicana Field, home to the Tampa Bay Rays in the MLB, has been turned into a base camp, with thousands of beds set up on the outfield.
What is a hurricane and how do they form?
A HURRICANE is another name for a tropical cyclone – a powerful storm that forms over warm ocean waters near the equator.
Those arising in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific are called hurricanes, while those in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean are dubbed typhoons or cyclones.
North of the equator they spin anticlockwise because of the rotation of the Earth, however, they turn the opposite way in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclones are like giant weather engines fuelled by water vapor as it evaporates from the sea.
Warm, moist air rises away from the surface, creating a low-pressure system that sucks in air from surrounding areas – which in turn is warmed by the ocean.
As the vapour rises it cools and condenses into swirling bands of cumulonimbus storm clouds.
The system grows and spins faster, sucking in more air and feeding off the energy in seawater that has been warmed by the sun.
At the center, a calm “eye” of the storm is created where cooled air sinks towards the ultra-low pressure zone below, surrounded by spiraling winds of warm air rising.
The faster the wind, the lower the air pressure at the center, and the storm grows stronger and stronger.
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land as they are no longer fed by evaporation from the warm sea.
But they often move far inland – dumping vast amounts of rain and causing devastating wind damage – before the “fuel” runs out and the storm peters out.
Hurricanes can also cause storm surges when the low air pressure sucks the sea level higher than normal, swamping low-lying coasts.
On top of the devastating human cost Milton could bring, people have warned of a damaging ripple effect on the broader US economy, with jobs, travel, manufacturing, retail sales, and housing all potentially affected.
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Around 3% of America’s gross domestic product is directly in the path of Milton, according to Ryan Sweet, chief US economist for Oxford Economics.
Tourists have been left stranded in Disney World just hours ahead of the storm after nearby airports were closed.
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