This situation looks a lot like robbing. Conditions are very favorable: honey stores removed, no nectar flow, weather related stress.
Lots of activity in front of the hive. Bees fly pattern when entering the hive is different. Instead of doing a zig zag before entering bee goes right in an opening.
Dead bees on the ground in front of the hive, because of bees fighting.
I have read somewhere that most bees participating in robbing are black and shinny silky in color, I think this is because they are mostly an older bees.
I would reduce an entrance to a ½ in. Avoid working bees, if you have to work them, cover open suppers.
If robbing starts, it is very hard to stop it. I had to move one of my hives to a different location in order to save it. On another occasion, putting up garden sprinkling to create rain effect did help a lot.

Good luck,
Andrey.

Andrey hi, i have left an entrance gap (although 2" - I might go back and make this smaller). Bees are starting to gather in clumps outside both hives, all still very frenetic and fighting taking place. The bees are behaving in the manner you have described and now in Hive 1 (stronger and older hive) dead bees and nectar are spilling from a corner of the hive. There are also as you mention, dead bees on the ground where much of the ambush seems to be taking place. Do I place the sprinkler so that the rain effect drops on the hive tops or just in front by the entrance? I don't want to irritate them further. The bees attacking seem much smaller and faster although initially they appeared to have darker and larger abdomens. When I film from 3 - 15 ft away I am able to use the telephoto to get extreme close ups. There are also flies (blue bottles) hanging about which is not a good sign. The 2nd day after the storm a humming bird keeps appearing - we have not seen this before. I fear that these two hives won't survive as the attacks on both are relentless - non stop after Ike - although with Hive 2 the raiding started a few days later than Hive 1. Thanks for your help, it was really useful.
Best regards, Gabriela.

why there would be a nectar spilling?
Does it comes from the inside of the hive? Can you post pictures?

Would it be possible to simply close the hives for a couple of days? Provide them with feeders inside and close them up. That might force the feral bees and other 'desperately looking for food after a hurricane' creatures to go look else where and loose interest.

Is this possible? Could it make a difference?

I do not keep bees, so just guessing.

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I went back to the hives this morning, none of the bees were going in or out of the small gap in Hive 1 but figured the small entrance might be blocked. I opened this up and there is a wall inside of about 3" high and deep of dead bees mulched up in a thick yellow golden liquid (what I had called nectar - it is not honey but the color of pollen). This is the liquid that was seeping from the hive base a few days after the hurricane. I cleaned and dried the wooden base by wrapping a paper towel tightly around a stick and swept out the sludge of bees and fluid, drying the area. I have closed up the entrance again with the wooden bar (with half inch center hole cut). The hovering bees started to take interest in entering the hive again straight away. It is still crazed around the hives, with wild bees still flying directly into the area. Although they are gathering as cannot get into the gap so fast. I will leave them for now and see what happens. I've also taken pictures of the yellow mulch and raider bees. I don't really want to go into the hive or block them up totally as don't know what bees are in there or not. Some bees in Hive 2 are now fanning their wings like crazy at the half inch entrance - all facing one direction - towards the hive - while the robbers are pelting down. I think best that I wait and see what happens in both hives for a few days now. GAB.

Do not close the hive completely. If you do that bees will overheat and die. That is the same reason they are fanning like crazy. Do you have a little space between inner and outer cover? putting a very small rock or wood on one side of the inner cover helps with ventilation. What I do not get is where liquid comes from. Does hive took water during storm? Does it have any smell to it? Does hive tilted forward as it supposed to so moister can exit freely. What I have seen, when small hive beetles take over the colony there larva start crowlling inside frame mixing honey and pollen, so it start to leak out.

keep us updated.

The hives look better today, the gap closures are those bought from bee suppliers so have the half inch cut. The bees are zig zagging into hive 2 now although there might be some random scuffling around the entrance so not sure who is who - the raiders or the protectors right now but the best I've seen in days. Hive 2 is the newest hive and used to be the 'weakest' but is bursting with activity now. Healthier and more 'normal' looking. Hive 1 has some activity although there are less bees behaving in a slower manner (as though they are just waking up), this is the hive with the liquid, I'm concerned that because the entrance has the wood (with gap) though, the hive cannot really dry out fully. I'm considering whether it is too early to pull away the wooden block or to wait another day so things can really settle in Hive 1. The storm was incredibly harsh, gusts of 80 - 100 mile an hour winds with pelting rain for 8 - 12 hours from the south (towards the hive base gap). The only ventilation at this point is through the half inch 'door' at the base. Will look at the idea you are suggesting re a small stone/wood. The hives are not tilted forward but are sitting evenly on a heavy horizontal table.
I've seen some beetles on the outside of hive 1 and strangely the blue bottle flies (about 2 or 3 only) still hang out outside this hive, not the other. That is why I'm worried about rot inside or dampness. I don't think there are enough beetles to warrant creating that amount of sludge - I have only seen 2 or 3. I think the golden yellow liquid is a mixture of water, honey, pollen, nectar, dead bees. It was clearer when it first started to drip out of one side of the entrance over the base that turned black. The smell was acrid. However everything looks dry outside now - no more liquid spilling since drying the bottom out with the paper towel wrapped around a narrow stick. 2 days ago the smell was pretty much that of agitated bees. Hive 2 has had no liquid spill though and both boxes are identical although hold different breeds.
Carlisle and her bee keeping partner Kevin (whose bees were also in the hurricane in another part of Houston) should be around soon. It will be interesting to see how his hives have taken the storm.
Will keep the blog posted.

gabriela,
what happens to the bees that die? do the live bees eat the other bees or do they have a special way of getting rid of the bees?

i love the story i hope that everything gets worked out with robbing!

best regards,
julia