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Bees buzz after St. Pete tree falls; road now closed

News Channel 8 photo by TODD DAVIS

St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue found two bee hives in an oak tree that fell on 10th Avenue North.

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TBO.com

Published: July 22, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - Officials will close 10th Avenue North just west of 34th Street North all night to non local traffic after an oak tree fell on the residential street, inciting two beehives with a total of 40,000 to 60,000 bees.

The bees began swarming and people were moved out of the area after the tree fell at 12:30 p.m. The bees have now been controlled, although some can still be seen flying around.

A professional beehive keeper is at the scene treating the bees with a chemical. He has to get rid of the bees and then remove the honeycombs from both beehives.

St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue is also at the scene.

The bees are Africanized bees that tend to be more aggressive, officials said. Each beehive has 20,000 to 30,000 bees.

Once the area is safe, a tree company or the power company will come out to remove the fallen tree.
No injuries have been reported. The fallen tree knocked down electrical power lines, but no power loss has been reported, officials said.

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