Particularly when it rains fairly heavily. I mean their colonies are just a network of unground tunnels. One would assume they’d just fill with water.
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The holes they breathe through are smaller than water can get into due to its surface tension.
If you’ve noticed, ant hills tend to “pop up” after a rain. The vast majority of the ant colony is underground but when it rains they move upwards to prevent the colony from becoming inundated.
Ants take active measures to protect themselves from excessive water. Such a special purpose built tunnels to channel waters downwards and quickly drain.
The ants take refuge on my kitchen bench and sometimes the wall a day or two Before the rains come.
I know when a big rain is coming because they carry all their eggs up and hang out. I just leave them alone if they’re not in the way.
After it finished raining they go away again by themselves. I suppose they check their chambers are not flooded and move every thing back again.
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There’s an ant colony that appears in our mailbox after heavy rains, eggs and all. They leave after eventually
Ever see a fire ant raft or ball during a flood? Terrifying
[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/31/547541719/what-to-do-when-facing-a-floating-ball-of-fire-ants](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/31/547541719/what-to-do-when-facing-a-floating-ball-of-fire-ants)
I read once that there is a specific species living in bamboo or something that drinks the water when there is a flood and then discards it outside the nest
Most underground colonies have a system of water traps – hollowed out rooms where water can pool but not advance to the next until the pool is filled. In the traps that are filled with water, the ants can just walk around/above the water to get out
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