Texas braces for alligator breakout as Harvey floods 'Gator Country' rescue park
Many of the dangerous reptiles, though, have been brought to higher ground
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Days of flooding have left an alligator rescue and adventure park in Southeast Texas at risk of seeing gators silly swim over fences if the heavy rains don’t let up.
The park has more than 350 alligators in its facilities outside of Beaumont, and the owners of the establishment say they’ve never seen flooding as bad as what they’ve seen following the landfall of tropical storm Harvey. That storm first hit Texas as a hurricane.
“We’re less than a foot a foot from [water] going over the fences,” Gary Saurage, an owner, told Fox News. “All of these re certified, high fences, but when it won’t quit, it won’t quit. We’ve worked around the clock and I don’t know what else to do. We’re truly tired. Everybody’s at the end of it, man. We don’t know what to do.”
“I’ve never seen [the water] stay anywhere near this before,” he continued. “The staying power of this storm is just unbelievable.”
Mr Saurage said that the park’s largest alligators are in trailers, and that the park’s crocodiles, venomous snakes, and other creatures have been captured and stowed away at high enough ground that they won’t be able to escape.
“Everything that is not from here, we’ve put up and we have in a safe place, but we live with alligators,” Mr Saurage said.
Southeastern Texas has seen catastrophic flooding that is expected to leave as many as 30,000 people without access to their homes, and forced to stay in shelters provided by state and local authorities. Those floods have come as a result of tropical storm Harvey, which first made landfall over the weekend, and has been followed up by intense raining that did not let up through the weekend.
Rescue crews are working to find and to save stranded victims of the storm, and the entire Texas National Guard has been deployed by Governor Greg Abbott to help with that effort. Private citizens, too, have been asked to help in that effort if they have high water vehicles or boats.
At least five people have died as a result of the storm, however the death toll is expected to rise.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments