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9984 |
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Date: August 28, 2017 at 21:54:29
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Floating colonies of fire ants roaming Houston waters after Harvey, ma |
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Floating-fire-ants-Houston-Hurricane-Harvey-12083209.php |
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Floating colonies of fire ants roaming Houston waters after Harvey, may climb into boats
Victims of Hurricane Harvey's devastating flooding in Houston and Southeast Texas have a new threat to worry about: floating colonies of aggressive fire ants.
A CBS news correspondent tweeted out a picture of one floating island of ants and it quickly spread online.
Unlike the fake photo of a shark on the freeway, this appears to be a real problem Houston-area residents will have to deal with in the coming days. The insects are known for the painful stings they inflict when they come in contact with skin.
As the Houston Chronicle reported in 2015, the red fire ants, or Solenopsis invicta, evacuate their underground nests when the tunnels start to flood.
Fire ants clump together in flood water from Tropical Storm Harvey, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in New Caney.
"By the time water covers the mound and the tunnels are flooded, the ants have moved up and out of the nest, locking legs together and forming a floating mass of fire ants, called a raft," Dr. Robert Puckett, assistant professor and extension entomologist at Texas A&M University told the Chronicle.
The colony of fire ants will float along until it finds something solid to stick to, which could be anything from a tree branch to the roof of someone's flooded house.
Experts at Texas A&M warn not to make contact with these floating ant colonies, not even with the oar of a boat because they may "climb aboard."
"Debris piles from the floodwaters or piles of items from flooded homes are potential nesting sites for fire ants," Puckett told the Chronicle. "Be aware that fire ants can be under anything."
That includes carpet, damaged hardwood floors, and furniture.
When floodwaters recede, people should still be careful when picking up debris, and wear bug repellent and protective gear, like long sleeves and rubber boots.
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[9999] [9989] [9985] |
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9999 |
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Date: August 31, 2017 at 12:11:36
From: Polydactyl in N. Bay, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Floating colonies of fire ants roaming Houston waters after... |
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Wow and YIKES, that's amazing! At least the fire ants have a means of survival in severe flooding. Many animals are going to be found dead in the mud, sorry to be so blunt.
Funny, I was thinking this morning about a quake in North Bay. If it happened now, with a rat invasion in Petaluma, imagine all the critters that would be upset out of their nests. There'd be a whole lot of scurrying in Petaluma and it wouldn't be only the baby rats- :)
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9989 |
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Date: August 29, 2017 at 17:48:59
From: Akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: great, thanks for tonight's nightmare (NT) |
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9985 |
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Date: August 28, 2017 at 23:12:32
From: Captainj, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Thanks for posting this ryan, most ppl don't know!(NT) |
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