Sea Lion Escapes Central Park Zoo Exhibit After New York City Flooding

A sea lion at the Central Park Zoo made a great escape amid all the flooding in New York City ... swimming out of its enclosure thanks to rising waters.

Video shows the sea lion on the other side of the exhibit, swimming around in brown water ... which was high enough for the animal to get out of the pool.

There are two other sea lions happily swimming around the enclosure, but one was able to make it over the fence ... with the marine mammal is chilling in a spot normally reserved for humans, at least when it's not underwater.

For reference, here's how the sea lion exhibit usually looks ... as you can see, the pool isn't that big, and the escaped sea lion is pretty close to a tent that leads to another area of the zoo.

The sea lion didn't escape the zoo completely ... but she did get out of their habitat, and she's obviously pretty curious about what lies beyond her little pool.

As you know ... heavy rain is pounding the Big Apple and there's extreme flooding throughout the city.

The Central Park Zoo was closed to the public Friday as a result of the severe weather conditions, and the sea lions seem to be making the most of a rainy day.