An albino Burmese Python, which is not what was found in a Brooklyn apartment yesterday (GothamistLLC's flickr).

Most people who left their apartments this weekend in the face of Irene made arrangements for their pets—helped by the fact they were allowed into shelters! Of course there were some exceptions. A few pets went off on their own and a few owners apparently just abandoned their buddies. Like the owner of a 10-foot python found yesterday on the eighth floor of the Howard Houses on Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brownsville.

The snake was found by NYCHA employees yesterday morning who were inspecting a leak coming into a seventh floor apartment. The workers then went to investigate the source of the water—the apartment upstairs, where nobody was home. They quickly backed out, however when they found a giant snake coiled up in the overflowing sink!

The two-year-old animal was then picked up by the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit which delivered him to the Animal Care & Control shelter in Brooklyn, where lots of animals were being held in response to the storm. It is illegal to own pythons as pets in the city (which doesn't really seem to stop people), but as of this morning the NYPD wasn't sure if any charges were being filed against the snake's owner.

For the record, the building the snake was living in was not in an evacuation zone nor did it experience any flooding. As for the snake's name? We've taken to calling him Sssstormy here at Gothamist HQ.