Alligator runs through empty Florida streets as Irma looms

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- An alligator was caught on camera taking advantage of the empty streets in a Florida city while the threat of Hurricane Irma loomed.

A Melbourne Fire Department employee captured video Sunday of an alligator scuttling off a near-abandoned road near the "Historic Downtown Melbourne" arch as storms rolled through the area in advance of Hurricane Irma.

The alligator climbs slowly up the curb before quickly running through the grass.

"There he goes!" the fire department employee laughs, "I'm outta here!"

City spokeswoman Cheryl Mall said the alligator was last seen running into a grassy retention area.

Photographer Michael Moore captured video of what appears to be the same alligator -- and an emergency vehicle possibly belonging to the same fire department employee -- at the side of a Melbourne road.