Posted on 08/28/2017 10:38:36 AM PDT by Red Badger
One danger evacuees and first responders are dealing with along with the flooding in Houston is fire ants.
Islands of fire ants!
CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca tweeted a photo from Houston as the ants formed a protective island in the high water.
According to Orkin.com, fire ants can exist in colonies of up to 250,000 workers and will sting intruders repeatedly. Fire ants feed on animal or vegetable sources of food according to the web site.
No reports yet of anyone getting bitten by fire ants.
Tropical Storm Harvey continues to head back toward the Gulf of Mexico at a slow pace.
In its 10 p.m. CDT Sunday advisory, the National Hurricane Center reported that the storm still had sustained winds of up to 40 mph and is centered 20 miles east of Victoria, Texas, about 120 miles southwest of Houston. It continues to creep to the east-southeast at 3 mph.
That means it remains virtually stalled near the coast and continues to drop heavy rain on the Houston and Galveston areas. In the past 48 hours, numerous spots in the region have measured more than 25 inches of rainfall.
The hurricane center says Harvey’s center was expected to drift off the middle Texas coast on Monday and meander offshore through Tuesday before beginning “a slow northeastward motion.”
Do they live atop each other? How do they keep afloat without drowning?
Dang, man, Houston gets hit with hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, and now fire ants?
Throw in some Dawn.
Fire Ant Islands drift to sea and then on to Cuba
Tough little buggers.
a liitle gasoline should do it....
Ant have air trapped between the tiny hairs on the outside of their bodies.....................
Next up:
ZOMBIES............................
Somebody call Kenny Loggins because Houston is definitely in the Danger Zone.
That looks like something to spray with oil and then light up.
Yep ... that’s how they survive. So now Houston is not only dealing with floods, but this ... and gators ... and snakes.
Fire ants have been a part of Houston for decades.
If it wouldn’t contaminate the surface waters, posin/spray the little biting critters. They are ferocious!
Looks like they heard about taking to higher ground.
I got bit by so many fire ants one time I got DIZZY!...................
Googling around....looks like fire ants are pretty common in parts of Texas.
Ping.
You know how great health care is in Cuba? A few years back an eldery lady was stung to death in a Cuban hospital bed by fire ants that had colonized her hospital mattress.
Staff had seen a few ants but never bothered to investigate their source. No one cared to do anything. Fix it mañana. Too late for abuela.
Napalm. It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
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