New Yorkers brace for post-Hurricane Sandy ‘ratpocalypse’

[JRLeft]

As Hurricane Sandy pushed floodwater through New York’s streets and into its subways, many wondered how the city’s infamous rat population would fare — sink or swim?

For some, the deluge that accompanied Sandy raised fears of a “ratpocalypse,” with the city’s least glamorous residents crawling in their thousands up out of their subterranean habitats and into the streets.

Others pondered the possibility of a grim “rat soup,” imagining dozens of the rodents drowned and floating along on the tide of water that swept into the city’s subway stations.

No one knows just how many rats there are in the city, with experts at odds over the accuracy of one common estimate suggesting there is at least one rat for each of New York City’s eight million human residents.

And Rick Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, said it was similarly difficult to predict what had happened to the rodents.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/01/new-yorkers-brace-for-post-hurricane-sandy-ratpocalypse/

[Jennicut]

1. "Rat soup"

Can I feed it to Mitt Romney?

I bet a lot of rats died when the water flooded the subway. RIP NYC rats.

[JRLeft]

3. Rats are pretty resourceful. They know to survive and they can swim.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Rats are excellent swimmers.

And that one looks like someone's pet.

[Madam Mossfern]

4. Yes

The ones you encounter in the streets aren't quite so cute.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. "Scabbers!!! THERE you are"!!!!

[aquart]

7. Not ratty enough.

[aquart]

6. All I know is my apt was infested with everything but locusts after Irene.

It was weird.