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Irma: Manatees found stranded on Florida beaches after hurricane sucks up water from sea

Huge sea mammals were caught unaware when low pressure from storm suddenly drained coastlines

Caroline Mortimer
Monday 11 September 2017 15:34 BST
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One of the beached manatees lies stranded
One of the beached manatees lies stranded

People in Florida have teamed up to save a number of manatees left stranded after Hurricane Irma suddenly sucked back the tide.

The phenomenon has led to ocean waters disappearing as the storm continued to tear through the region.

It is caused when low air pressure inside the hurricane acts as a vacuum for the surrounding ocean – sucking up water and dumping it as it travels inland, leaving several sea creatures stranded on dry land.

Among those carrying out the rescue missions was Marcelo Clavijo, in Sarasota, who wrote on Facebook: “Getting a lil stir crazy so we went for a ride and went to check the bay at the end of Whitfield.

“The tide was sucking the bay dry which stranded two manatees on the flats so we went for a ride and ended up saving two manatees with a handful of people. Two of the manatees were knee deep in mud right next to us.

“It was a pretty cool experience, we rolled them on the tarp and then dragged them 100yds. It was crazy.”

Images captured in Sarasota Bay in Florida, show the creatures lying beached in the mud as local animal welfare services attempted to free them.

Tony Faradini-Campos said he and his friends went out to look at the receding waters and spotted two oddly-shaped “blobs” on the horizon.

He wrote on Facebook: “The ocean has been sucked up by the hurricane as far as the eye can see!

“This area is usually completely submerged! Can we do something?”

Mr Faradini-Campos’s post was seen by police in Manatee County and the Florida and Wildlife Conservation Commission who went out to rescue them.

He told the Sarasota Herald Tribune: ”We had to do something about it.

“We couldn’t just let those manatees die out there. We shared the pictures on social media and it just blew up.

“I was amazed how many people started sharing the story.”

He said the rescue team had put tarps down under the manatees and used them as a “luge” to slide them back into the water.

“It shows what people can do when they come together. I thought they [the manatees] were done for”, he added. “A lot of situations, rescues, where you say there is an animal in distress in these conditions, and they most likely will say we have to focus on people.”

The storm was still over 100 miles away from Sarasota during the rescue but it was so powerful it could still suck up water from miles around.

Meteorologist Angela Fritz explained the phenomenon in The Washington Post, saying: “In the centre of the storm, where the pressure is lowest and the winds are converging, water piles up.

“Low pressure is basically a sucking mechanism in the sense that it draws the air inward.

“When the pressure is exceptionally low and the winds are very strong, it can create a bulge of ocean water under the centre of the storm.”

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