Watch: Florida man returns home after Milton to find alligator in his pool

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A Florida man returned home after three days of sheltering from Hurricane Milton to find an alligator swimming laps in his pool.

Emile De Cuba said he returned to his home in Stuart after three days at his mother-in-law's Vero Beach home and was relieved to see his house was not seriously damaged by the storm.

He said his relief quickly turned to shock when he spotted an alligator inside his swimming pool.

"I came home yesterday at around 11:30, and when I went by my sliding door I went 'Woah,'" De Cuba told WPTV.

De Cuba contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which dispatched trappers to remove the reptile.

"The yard is pretty guarded, we have a wooden fence on one side and a chain-link fence on the other with a bunch of vegetation," De Cuba said. "The wildlife officer told me that it probably went over the chain-link fence because they can climb those."

He said the alligator likely wandered over from a nearby retention pond. De Cuba said he will install another barrier at the top of the chain-link fence to prevent future gator incursions.

The alligator was far from being the largest animal rescued from a pool in recent days -- police responded to a Bedford, N.H., home earlier this month when a moose fell through a pool cover and became stranded in the water.