(CNN) When it comes to flooding, the problems most people think about are washed-out roads and underwater homes.

But after rainstorms in Missouri and Iowa caused nearby rivers to rise, a family in Northeast Arkansas stumbled upon a 9-foot alligator far from its natural habitat -- in their rice field.

Frank Pierce and his family told CNN affiliate WMC-TV that they found the massive gator basking in the sun on Thursday. The family lives about 90 miles from the Mississippi River and in the same county as one of its tributaries, the White River.

"Me and my brother and my wife and daughter were going fishing and we come around the curve and he was laying out there in the field," Pierce said.

Pierce called the police, and the Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas told WMC-TV that they didn't believe the story at first.

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