In the floods caused by Hurricane Matthew, manure lagoons on North Carolina hog farms “withstood the storm remarkably well,” said the North Carolina Pork Council. Fourteen lagoons were flooded and only one lagoon was partially breached — on a farm that has not housed hogs “for more than five years, significantly minimizing the environmental impact.”
The Pork Council agreed with figures released last week by environmental groups that said 39 barns on 10 large-scale hog farms were flooded along with 14 lagoons, which hold waste from hog barns. By comparison, Hurricane Floyd inundated 50 hog lagoons and breached six of them in 1999. Some 2,800 hogs died on one farm in Hurricane Matthew vs 21,474 hogs in Hurricane Floyd.
“Now that the floodwaters have receded, it is clear that the industry survived this storm with much less damage than previous storms,” said the Pork Council.
Since Hurricane Floyd, the state bought out 42 hog farms and removed 103 manure lagoons. An additional 231 out-of-service lagoons were closed permanently with funds from a foundation, said the Pork Council.
In addition to flooded hog farms, environmentalists said 102 poultry barns on 26 broiler chicken farms were flooded. Will Hendrick of the Waterkeeper Alliance said the state ought to take the same sort of action with poultry farms as it did with hog farms following Hurricane Floyd, reported North Carolina Health News. State agriculture officials estimate 1.7 million chickens and 112,000 turkeys died in floods this fall.
North Carolina is one of the leading hog- and poultry-producing states in the nation.