Shucks, that was in West Central Illinois. And the snakes wouldn't have been so concentrated if he hadn't been for the flood. Here's another true story:

When I walked the levees during the Flood of 1965 as a member of the National Guard, we carried a heavy-duty flashlight. No weapons, no radio...just the flashlight and (sometimes) a wee bottle of chill-chaser. Along the route we walked, about every mile, as a very large pile of filled sandbags, convenient if needed.

The farm guys we walked with carried both a firearm and a CB radio. We walked in teams of at least three.

One of the groups, not one I was with, came up to one of the piles of sandbags and sat down to take a short break. The farm boy suddenly raised a .357, pointed it at the Guardsman across from him and said "Don't move!" -- with a heavy caliber pistol pointed at him the guy wasn't about to! The farmer then fired and a large water mocassin dropped dead into the Guardsman's lap. Yes, the Guardsman quickly arose (he rose about six or seven feet) and then he DID move.

Floods not only flood out people, they flood out animals: snakes, skunks, racoons, deer...whatever. We saw several snakes as we walked along, but they were busily engaged in getting away from both us and water and so there was no need to do anything other than watch where we stepped. I was standing still, talking to the guys in my group, when a skunk came up, sniffed us, and ambled away.

Fortunately, Illinois isn't alligator country!