A Florida woman found her home flooded, then covered the floor with tiny

A Florida homeowner dealt with a flooded residence by spreading Orbeez across her floor to soak up the water. The TikTok user, who posts as @beeeeeeeeches, later shared a video of herself vacuuming up the colorful, swollen beads once they had absorbed the floodwater.

As first highlighted by BroBible, the clip has drawn over a hundred thousand views. She captioned it, “Goodbye orbeez you did such a good job.”

The homeowner, who is based in Melbourne, noted in her comments that the beads can take as long as eight hours to reach their maximum size. Her other videos show the extent of the flooding, with her dog appearing in some of them.

Orbeez work a lot like the inside of a diaper

Orbeez, also known as water beads, are made from super-absorbent polymer materials designed to hold onto large amounts of liquid. They are often used for sensory play, home decorations, and floral arrangements.

According to Home Science Tools, these polymers work similarly to the absorbent material found in disposable diapers. When exposed to water, the beads swell into gel-like spheres that can grow 150 to 1500 times in volume and hold hundreds of times their own weight without dissolving.

Many viewers were surprised by the tactic, with one commenter writing, “Orbeez being flood protection was never in my playbook.” Others suggested keeping the beads, with one person writing, “OMG if you put them in a pantyhose you can pick them up and reuse them again.”

The beads can shrink when they lose moisture and be rehydrated for later use, though their condition and suitability for reuse can vary. Orbeez can also be dangerous if swallowed, particularly by dogs that might mistake the bright beads for food.

In one veterinary case highlighted by Yahoo Lifestyle, a dog swallowed a bag of rainbow-colored beads, and an X-ray revealed its stomach was full of them. A veterinary technician reported that only about 25% of the beads showed up on the scan, and the remaining 75% had to be surgically removed.

Orbeez have also been linked to concerning social media trends. FOX 11 reported that school officials warned parents after students became ill following the “Eating Orbeez” trend, since the beads can keep expanding inside the body and lead to choking or serious intestinal blockages.

Another trend from 2022 involved people using toy guns to fire hydrated beads at strangers. Police departments raised concerns about the so-called Orbeez Challenge, with incidents documented in various locations across California.