Hundreds of snakes, including venomous ones, escaped a breeding farm in China when a tropical storm dropped heavy rainfall, causing devastating flooding.
Villagers in Hangzhou experienced nightmare on top of nightmare when nearly 900 reptiles busted out of their damaged facility, news.com.au reported Friday.
Video footage appeared to show the creatures slithering through the murky floodwaters, and one snake stared at a person recording:
“They apparently got loose after a nearby reservoir collapsed and the snakes were able to go free in the town, sparking concern from local residents. The breeding farm is said to have housed a mix of venomous cobras, king rat snakes, and non-venomous water snakes,” the news.com.au article said, adding emergency crews were helping to search for the creatures.
Another clip showed two men trying to catch one of the snakes as it swam in the water, and the shirtless man eventually grabbed it and acted as if it was not a big deal:
Chinese authorities said Thursday 39 people died in the flooding, NBC News reported.
“Most of the deaths were in Hengzhou, where the partial collapse of a reservoir dam sent torrents of water into the city and claimed 26 lives, Ding Wei, the vice mayor of Nanning city, which has jurisdiction over the area, said at a news briefing. Nine people remained missing in the broader Guangxi region,” the outlet said, noting another storm is forecast to hit the Zhejiang or Fujian province on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a man who was bitten by a cobra while clearing his home told reporters, “Hundreds of snakes escaped all at once. I’ve seen five or six,” per the Guardian. The outlet said one snakebite victim had reportedly died.
“China experiences frequent natural disasters during the summer, with torrential rain and flooding affecting some regions while others grapple with extreme heat. Although snake sightings are common in flood-hit areas of the south, reports of hundreds of snakes escaping from commercial breeding farms are rare,” the article read.