Hundreds of Snakes Including Cobras Escape Flooded Farms in Southern China

Hundreds of snakes, including cobras, escaped from flooded breeding farms in Hengzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region after days of heavy rainfall from typhoon Maysak. State media showed a video of residents using dip nets to catch snakes while a cobra surfaced in muddy flood water. Local media identified the escaped snakes as water snakes, king ratsnakes and cobras.

A snakebite victim told Beijing News that hundreds escaped at once and that he had seen five or six. The same villager said a cobra bit him at about 1pm on Tuesday while he cleared debris on the ground floor of his house. A local doctor said he had treated several snakebite patients since the typhoon arrived.

Beijing News reported that one snakebite victim died, citing a local hospital and witnesses. The Hengzhou emergency management bureau confirmed it was aware of the farm damage and bites. Two reservoirs in Guangxi experienced overtopping and breaches on Monday, surrounding villages with flood water.

At least six people died in the province, 50,000 were evacuated and six remained missing. The national death toll from the storms reached 38 after a landslide killed 21 in Gansu and thunderstorms and tornadoes killed 11 in Hubei. China’s president Xi Jinping called for all-out rescue efforts.

The Hengzhou Media Convergence Centre issued guidance on Wednesday warning that cobras, kraits and green pit vipers had escaped and could shelter in homes, stairwells and along riverbanks. Authorities increased anti-venom supplies, opened a fast-track treatment channel at Hengzhou People’s hospital and set up additional medical stations.

Rescue personnel and medical specialists were deployed to the area.