"The Terrifying Science Behind Floating Fire Ant Colonies"

"In addition to widespread suffering and devastation, Hurricane Harvey has brought a plague of floating fire ants to the Houston region.

'Floodwaters will not drown fire ants,' explains Paul Nester, an extension specialist at Texas A&M, in a pamphlet titled 'Flooding and Fire Ants: Protecting Yourself and Your Family.' Instead, entire colonies of the aggressive biting insects — eggs, larvae and all — will 'emerge from the soil, form a loose ball, float, and flow with the water until they reach a dry area or object they can crawl up on.'

For the uninitiated, a fire ant resembles a regular ant in roughly the same way a wolf resembles a golden retriever. They're aggressive, territorial and venomous. Among vulnerable individuals, their stings can be fatal. 'Most people hate fire ants without reservation,' Florida State University entomologist Walter Tschinkel wrote in a book about the insects in 2006."

Christopher Ingraham reports for the Washington Post August 30, 2017.