Two men used a kayak as a lifeboat for beehives floating through a flooded wildflower field
Record-breaking flooding of the Mississippi River left an Oklahoma beekeepers’ wildflower field under 10 feet of water and his beehives floating on top.
“I’ve never seen water in this field,” beekeeper Mark Rodden told the local TV news channel.
When he woke up to a newly formed lake in his backyard, he made a panicked call to fellow beekeeper Brian Royal of Royal Bee Supply.
“I said I`m gonna come over and look,” Royal said. “If we can, we’re gonna get ’em.”
The pair threw on beekeeper suits and got to work. Rodden waded around scooping up beehives from the shallow end, while Royal paddled around the deeper end in a kayak catchimg them before they drifted away.
Royal said Rodden “about dumped him in the water” as he “threw” hives heavy with honey onto the kayak.
After about two hours of work, they saved 6 out of 8 hives.
Rodden estimates about half a million bees drowned, but says he’s grateful that all was not lost.