Twice as many livestock have died in North Carolina due to Hurricane Florence as perished in Hurricane Matthew two years ago, and more manure lagoons have been damaged or flooded, state agencies said on Wednesday. Some hog farmers traveled by boat or even helicopter to feed stock stranded by floods in 14 hurricane-hit counties that cover an area larger than Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined, said a farm group.
Preliminary estimates by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture put livestock losses at 3.4 million poultry and 5,500 hogs. “These numbers could change based on further recovery efforts,” said a spokeswoman. There were no immediate estimates of crop losses.
By comparison, 1.8 million poultry and 2,800 hogs died in Hurricane Matthew. Agriculture commissioner Steve Troxler said Florence “was an unprecedented storm with flooding expected to exceed that of any other storms in recent memory.” Floods hit the state’s top six agricultural counties.
Matthew breached one lagoon and flooded 14 of the pond-like structures that hold animal waste at industrial livestock farms. The state Department of Environmental Quality said Florence had caused structural damage, which may include a breach, to five lagoons and had flooded 17 lagoons. In addition, 21 lagoons had overflowed; 36 were filled to capacity, with “overtopping likely”; and fluid levels in 31 others were within 3 inches of overflowing.
Breached, inundated, and overflowing lagoons mean the discharge of manure into floodwaters and a potential health risk. The North Carolina Pork Council, a farm group, said the releases were “the result of a once-in-a-lifetime storm” and would be highly diluted by the up to 40 inches of rain dumped by Florence.
“Flooded hog farms bring back traumatic memories for North Carolinians who experienced Hurricane Floyd and Hurricane Matthew,” said Maggie Monast of the Environmental Defense Fund, a green group. “The state and the hog industry have made progress reducing flood risk during the last 20 years, but there’s much more we can do.” In particular, Monast said, the state and private sector should put more money into a program to “buy out” and shut down lagoons in floodplains, and should invest in lagoon covers and advanced technology, such as manure digesters, for handling animal waste.
“Recovery from this disaster must include support for communities and farmers to put resilient systems in place,” said Monast, senior manager of EDF’s agricultural sustainability initiative.
Hog farmers and meat processors were taking extraordinary steps to keep farms running in flooded areas, said the Pork Council. At some farms, farmers stayed with their hogs around the clock. “In others, farmers are accessing the barns by boat and, in a few cases, farmers and employees have shuttled to barns by helicopter to reach the animals,” said the farm group.
“Flooding from Florence is far from over,” said Quartz. “It is already the worst rainstorm to hit the East Coast of the United States in recorded history, and streams and rivers are expected to continue swelling for days.” The environmental group Riverkeeper Alliance reported “dozens of inundated lagoons” across the Cape Fear River basin as well as two breached lagoons drained of their contents. The lagoons had held more than 7.3 million gallons of waste, estimated the Environmental Working Group.
Hurricane Floyd, in 1999, is the benchmark for hurricane damage to livestock farms in North Carolina. The storm killed 21,000 hogs and flooded 55 lagoons. To prevent that scale of damage again, the state spent $28 million to close 103 hog lagoons located on the floodplain. Grant money was used to permanently close 231 lagoons that were not in use. Nearly $5 million in state and federal money was available this year for voluntary buyouts of hog farms on the 100-year floodplain, said the pork council.