Death of millions of animals creates post-storm problem

Carcasses of hogs, chickens carry risk to human health.

For Chris Smith, whose North Carolina farm is home to 30,000 chickens and 150 acres of sweet potatoes, the fight to survive Hurricane Flor- ence is not yet over.

As torrential rains from the storm filled local waterways and flooded nearby roads, Smith, one of hundreds of local farmers in a state known for its poultry and hog oper- ations, found himself cut off from supplies, power and any way to move his birds out.

The ferocity of the storm was surprising, according to Smith. “We thought we weren’t in a-flood-prone area, but we had a pretty good scare,” he said. He rationed the feed he had on hand as best he could, and used 250 gallons of diesel per day to keep his gener- ators running.

Now Smith, who counts himself lucky that his flock survived, is looking to quickly move his chickens to processing plants before the week- end, when more showers are forecast and the nearby Neuse River may flood fur- ther. He’s not alone. Seeking to minimize deaths from a storm that’s already killed mil- lions of animals, farmers are turning to helicopters, boats and heavy trucks to supply farms stranded by flooding and debris.

An estimated 5,500 hogs and 3.4 million chickens and turkeys have already died as a result of Florence, which hit landfall Friday. Six days later, flooding remains a problem, with some roads still impassable and some rivers still near cresting.

Many of the state’s 2,100 hog farms “are returning to normal,” according to the North Carolina Pork Council. But about a dozen still remained unreachable as of Thursday morning, Andy Curliss, the group’s leader, said.

The current push to save animals will, by necessity, be followed by a more grisly effort: The need to quickly and safely get rid of millions of carcasses that carry significant health risks.

Speed is key. As livestock carcasses degrade, they release fluids, gases and a slew of toxic chemical, biological and radiological compounds, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said. If left untouched, the carcasses can leach into drinking water, and draw flies and rats who can spread pathogens to humans and other livestock.

The animals killed by Florence will be buried, composted or “rendered” for usable parts, state officials said. The state is working to supply woody materials that can be placed around dead birds, helping them compost more quickly. Several landfills with impermeable linings may take larger carcasses, again topped with woody materials.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, said they remain concerned based on results from past storms, including Hurricane Matthew two years earlier and Hurricane Floyd in 1999, an event that killed at least 20,000 hogs.

“Every time I see the same things: f lo o ded lagoons, chicken houses filled to the roof with dead chicken,” said Rick Dove, an official with the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance and a resident of New Bern, North Carolina. “We never learn from any of these storms. We have the same problems.”