Rainfall and flooding aren’t all Texans have to worry about this weekend as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall — there will also be gators.As storm surges push water levels up to a predicted 12 feet, the state’s alligators — displaced from where they naturally lurk — will likely find their way to neighborhood driveways, under parked cars, and on top of doorsteps.“And that’s a conservative estimate,” said Amos Cooper, the head of the alligator program for the department.Texas Gator Squad founder Chris Stephens, who goes by Gator Chris (“That’s how I’m known in gator world,” he told VICE News) is a licensed education and nuisance control expert.“Alligators are very affected by rainwater and flooding. They look for slow-moving or stillwater ponds,” Gator Chris said.“They leave fast-water areas and can cross highways, porches, driveways, whatever,” he explained.And that’s not all. “Snakes are going to do the same thing,” he added.Animals that live around low-lying areas, like raccoons and hogs, may also be displaced. And fire ants, an imported South American pest that nevertheless made the Southeast its home, have their own unique response to rain, banding together to form a sort of swarming life raft to weather storms.Though Texans need only worry about gators washing up further inland, the opposite has been known to happen, too. In 2008 during Hurricane Ike, an alligator that had been tagged by researchers in Louisiana was found on a beach at the Padre Island National Seashore, south of Corpus Christi. Researchers believe it was pulled out to sea, where it travelled 300 miles before reaching land.If you do happen to see a gator, authorities say you should leave it alone until the water recedes.“Don’t mess with ’em, don’t touch ’em,” says Gator Chris.
The counties in western Texas where alligators are most populous — including Nueces County, where Harvey is expected to make landfall — are home to an estimated 500,000 gators, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department told the Houston Chronicle.
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