Hurricane Hermine leaves manatees stranded in ditch
It took more than a dozen volunteers around two hours to get the animals back into Florida’s Crystal River (Facebook)
A mother and baby manatee have been saved after floodwaters from Hurricane Hermine swept them inland and left them in a waterlogged roadside ditch.
The two were found in a ditch on the opposite side of the road from the area’s main body of water, manatee biologist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission Kane Rigney told ABC News.
"Someone was literally driving down the road and saw these two manatees stuck on the side," Mr Rigney said.
"What we suspect happened is that the water level rose [to] where it went over the top of the road, and the animals landed there after the hurricane.
"They had about 100 feet north and south they could swim up and down."
"They were just in a puddle, so it wasn’t terrible for them, however they still needed to be located."
The mother manatee is estimated to have weighed about 635 kilograms and her two-year-old calf another 181 kilograms.
It took more than a dozen volunteers around two hours to get the animals back into Florida’s Crystal River.
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