When Hurricane Florence blew through North and South Carolina in September 2018, wind, rain, and flooding were not the only threats people faced. A bevy of slithering, sneaky, watch-where-you-step snakes came out of hiding.

Chief among them was the notorious and venomous cottonmouth snake , a.k.a., water moccasin, that turned up in the floodwaters.

Venomous Snakes of North America

The cottonmouth ( Agkistrodon piscivorus ) is the only venomous water snake in North America, and one of only four venomous snakes in the United States. The others include the rattlesnake, copperhead and coral snake .

Populating most of the Southeast, the cottonmouth gets its name from the white color inside its mouth, although a Native American legend on how the snake got its name and venom is mo

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