Just hours after Hurricane Ian officially made landfall in the great state of Florida, storm watcher Colin McCarthy was on the scene and captured a video of a shark swimming in a Fort Myers street that had been overcome with the floodwaters.
McCarthy posted the video to Twitter showing the fish thrashing around and he said, “The storm surge is so powerful #HurricaneIan that it brought a shark into the city streets of Fort Myers.”
The storm surge is so powerful from #HurricaneIan that it has brought a shark into the city streets of Fort Myers.
?@BradHabuda pic.twitter.com/RHY0kK5RHR
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) September 28, 2022
Wildlife authorities are warning locals that marine life, alligators, snakes, and bears may be emerging from their natural habitats to venture into urban neighborhoods now that a lot of places are flooded and forcing the creatures to seek new homes.
According to Outsider, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued a statement saying, “You may be more likely to see alligators, snakes, and bears, so remember to stay alert and give them space.”
They added that the wild animals may become disoriented during Hurricane Ian due to the severe weather conditions and may pose even more of a threat to humans than they normally do.
A 9-foot alligator was actually filmed yesterday (Sept 28) swimming through the floodwaters in Lake Country, Florida by Marlei Martinez.
Lake County’s fire chief wrote on the video posted to Facebook, “With the high water, we get some amphibious creatures to come out of the swamps… snakes, alligators we normally wouldn’t.”
Outsider also reported that the ocean research organization OCEARCH issued a statement about the storm’s impacts on sharks saying, “Our team is still watching the Shark Tracker to see what their next moves are, but we are pleasantly surprised by a few of our sharks pinging in right after the hurricane hit, one even pinging during it.”
OCEARCH says that while sharks do not usually pose any danger to humans during a hurricane, they will still be tracking their movements over the next few days to see if any become displaced due to the storm.
LIVE Aftermath Footage Of Hurricane Ian Below
