Snakes on the street: Nearly 900 snakes, including cobras, escape flooded farm in China, enter nearby villages

Villagers armed with nets waded through muddy floodwaters to catch escaped cobras and water snakes after a breeding farm in Guangxi was washed away, even as China battles its deadliest flood season in years

Floodwaters set loose a slithering nightmare in southern China this week after nearly 900 snakes, including venomous cobras, escaped a breeding farm in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The farm in Dengwei village was swept away by rising waters on July 6, according to Wu Zhi, head of the local village committee, who spoke to state-run outlet Red Star News. The escaped reptiles included water snakes, king ratsnakes, and cobras, local media reported.

The bizarre episode is just one chapter in a much larger flood emergency unfolding across China. Days of extreme weather in the country’s south and central regions have already killed at least 39 people, sent dozens of rivers overflowing, and triggered the collapse of a reservoir dam. Chinese authorities have now evacuated more than 900,000 people as Typhoon Bavi barrels towards the eastern city of Wenzhou, after already lashing Taiwan and Japan’s southwestern islands, even as the country continues to deal with the fallout of Typhoon Maysak, which struck Hainan earlier this month.

Videos of cobras in floodwater send chills online

State media shared several videos of the aftermath, and the internet is not okay. One widely circulated clip shows local residents using dip nets to fish snakes out of the water, while another captures a cobra raising its head above a stretch of muddy floodwater. The footage, tied to the flooding caused by Typhoon Maysak, has racked up views as users reacted with a mix of horror and disbelief.

The farm bred snakes for medicine, meat and anti-venom

According to Chinese daily Global Times, the Dengwei village facility mainly bred three types of snakes, cobras, king ratsnakes, and water snakes, for use in traditional medicine, meat production, and anti-venom manufacturing. When the floodwaters tore through the farm, the reptiles simply swam away with the current.

“Most of the snakes have already been washed away,” say officials, but caution urged

Wu Zhi told Global Times, “Most of the snakes have already been washed away by the floods.” He added that only a small number remain stranded on floating garbage and debris in the stagnant water, and that the vast majority of snakes captured at the site so far have turned out to be harmless water snakes rather than venomous ones.A ten-member team has been deployed to recapture the escapees using nets and electric fishing equipment. Even so, officials are taking no chances given that some of the loose reptiles are believed to be cobras. Residents have been firmly told not to attempt catching the snakes on their own. Wu Zhi said anyone who spots a snake at home should immediately alert the village committee so trained personnel can handle it.

Hundreds evacuated as reservoirs overflow

The snakes escaped on Monday, July 6, according to Shanghai Daily, and one villager was bitten by a snake and hospitalised. By the following day, 712 residents had been evacuated after the nearby Liulan and Yunbiao reservoirs began overflowing in the wake of Typhoon Maysak, China Daily reported.

Describing the chaos, a local resident told the Associated Press, “It was terrifying.” The resident added that the flood tore through the snake farm and left the animals roaming everywhere, even in the water.

With Typhoon Bavi now approaching and memories of the snake scare still fresh, villagers in the flood-hit region are keeping a wary eye on both the skies and the water below.