Heavy rains in Washington State this month prompted officials to warn about flooded roadways, water damage to homes and one rare potential consequence: toilet rats.
The public health department for Seattle and King County issued the toilet rat warning on Thursday, telling residents that recent flooding may sweep rats into sewers and lead them to home toilets.
Floods are not the only cause of toilet rats, a nightmarish feature of life across the United States that can also be caused by cracked or broken pipes that allow passage, or food scents reaching into drains, drawing in the rodents.
This is especially true in rat-dense cities such as New York.
Timothy Wong, the technical director of M&M Pest Control in Queens, said the company gets about 20 toilet rat calls each year, usually from people living in a building’s basement, or on the first or second floors.
These calls are frantic and urgent, Mr. Wong said. And yes, the company has received one call from a customer who said they were using the toilet when a rat emerged from below.
“One of the most sacred things in our home is when we go to sleep, and when we use the bathroom,” Mr. Wong said. “And when that’s invaded, it’s going to freak people out.”
King County’s public health department said it had not received any toilet rat calls after as much as a half a foot of rain fell in some parts of the state, but was expecting them, The Seattle Times reported. Rats, which are good swimmers, may search for drains that aren’t flooded, leading them into homes.
The department said it gets about 50 “rat-in-the-toilet complaints” a year in Seattle, a city estimated to have about 2.5 million toilets.
After the storms in Washington this month, which caused flooding and evacuation orders for 100,000 people, the department provided guidance for how to handle a toilet rat emergency.
Step one is “try to stay calm.”
The next step is shutting the toilet lid (assuming the critter has not already escaped, in which case, it’s time to sprint out of the bathroom and shut the door behind you). Then, try to squirt dish soap inside the toilet and flush as many times as needed to send the rat sliding back down the drain.
This advice is followed by the horrifying warning that it might not work for especially large rats. In that case, the department said, enlist help from a pest control company.
A rat in the toilet can be an alarming sign that there are much larger plumbing and pest problems on a property, according to Mr. Wong and Jesse Scaravella, owner of Evergreen Eco Pest Control in New York City.
Mr. Scaravella said his firm gets fewer than five toilet rat calls per year.
“When things are maintained correctly, and all the pipes are in good working order, and there’s no holes or basement situations, it is very rare to get the toilet rat,” Mr. Scaravella said.
His job requires going to the parts of buildings people rarely see, he said, and the conditions there can be surprising — even in very nice, very expensive properties.
“When we get in there, it’s like, ‘Wow, you don’t even know half this pipe was missing and there’s two inches of water on the floor,’” Mr. Scaravella said.
If an exterminator comes in and just takes out the rat, these wider problems may go unnoticed, Mr. Scaravella said.
Integrated pest management, a practice used by his and Mr. Wong’s firm, involves assessing the property to find, treat and prevent the cause of problems. This is where a resident might learn the property has old, corroded pipes or rat-infested crawl spaces.
Mr. Wong said building owners should be required to get pipes checked regularly and to install a backflow valve, which allows water to go out but not to come back in. Some properties in New York City must have these devices, but not all.
For those who find themselves staring at a sopping, scared toilet rat, Mr. Wong advised duct taping the toilet lid and calling pest control.
He was less confident than the King County health department that flushing was a solution.
“You know, it’s hard to convince a rat to go through the toilet to go back out,” he said.
Amanda Holpuch covers breaking news and other topics.
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