From mid-August to the beginning of September, Hurricane Harvey dumped 30 trillion gallons of rain on Texas—enough water to cover the entire state of Arizona in more than a foot of water. The hardest hit counties are home to one quarter of the state’s cattle, but Texas is also home to the nation’s largest horse population.
While most news coverage focused on Harvey’s human impact, the state’s equine vets were invaluable to the state for their quick, decisive response that helped both horses and the community.
The Texas Equine Veterinary Association (TEVA) began staging veterinary and livestock feed supplies less than three days after Harvey made landfall. TEVA accomplished this by organizing many veterinary hospitals statewide to act as donation hubs for the countless tons of horse feed shipped from over 42 states plus Canada, Great Britain, and Germany to aid the hurricane-ravaged area.
Brazos Valley Equine Hospital (BVEH) in Navasota, Sam Houston Race Park in Harris County, and Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy became key supply points receiving and distributing provisions to veterinarians in affected areas.
Dr. Ben Buchanan, owner of BVEH and past TEVA president, coordinated supply staging at hub clinics and the sheltering and rescue efforts of many horses. His communication with supply points continued until there was consistent access for supply delivery and aid into harder-hit areas. He and other TEVA members’ equine contacts had familiarity with many facilities of the stricken regions, enabling them to recommend availability of barns willing to house displaced, lost or evacuated horses.
TEVA Executive Director Sara Green, along with assistant Blaine Fischer and American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) representative Keith Kleine, were also major players in executing the disposition of donated supplies and feed, utilizing numerous “eyes and ears” on the ground.
Since the flooding made mail and package delivery difficult if not impossible in many areas, BVEH was the only facility in a large geographic area enabled to receive much needed supplies transported by FedEx. Consequently, Buchanan made arrangements for BVEH to rendezvous with veterinarians lacking supplies at locations halfway between their clinics.
BVEH orchestrated the largest dispersal of supplies by far. Following their lead, several clinics in stricken areas adopted similar protocols, ensuring their colleagues were well-stocked. As soon as floodwaters began receding, BVEH was able to move supplies to harder hit areas.
Another instrumental figure in this relief effort was Texas A&M University (TAMU) College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Professor Leslie Easterwood, DVM. Easterwood is a member of the Board of Directors of both AAEP and TEVA, and a member of the TAMU Veterinary Response Team (VET). In these roles, she helped to keep groups in the loop with firsthand knowledge of the events and conditions in the devastated areas.
The VET team, based in College Station, TX, deploys to natural and other catastrophic disasters to provide veterinary care, including triage to treatment of injured animals. During Hurricane Harvey, Easterwood and other team members coordinated with state agencies setting up care for evacuated, stranded, or displaced small animals, horses, and livestock including those unable to get out to higher ground.
TEVA equine practitioners felt advanced planning based on weather updates enabled some horses to evacuate. Veterinary client communication was key for animals in flooded areas that could only be managed at home. Practitioners did an excellent job of providing, at times, around-the-clock veterinary care with limited provisions. All agree that the success of this relief effort was enhanced by the availability of social media and cell phones.
Things to watch for
Even though the hurricane ended months ago, there are several things to watch for, both in Harvey’s wake and in the case of future disasters. Buchanan said that emergencies due to flooding conditions typically involve trauma such as lacerations, puncture wounds, eye problems, and injuries from debris or downed trees and power poles. He also sees an increase in skin issues, such as “scratches” and “rain rot” after excessive rainfall and flooding.
Other horse health problems that can arise following extreme weather conditions like Harvey include colic, pneumonia, and dehydration from inaccessibility to water or availability of non-polluted water. Intense, lasting wet conditions can predispose horses to sole abscesses and laminitis as well. Horses standing continually in water have a poor to grave prognosis regardless of depth of water.
TEVA member Dr. Dennis Jenkins had ample opportunity to study standing water with “River Harvey” running through his house and water coming within “a centimeter” of his Santa Fe clinic, a hub donation facility.
He also has experience with hurricane-caused horse health problems, having lived through the 2008 Hurricane Ike. He said Harvey differed from Ike in that Harvey lacked Ike’s unrelenting severe winds and surge conditions. Unlike during Hurricane Ike, Jenkins and crew were able to keep up with the injuries and more intensive medical cases during Harvey flooding.
Dr. Sam Williams, another equine practitioner instrumental in TEVA’s relief efforts, added that most horses in his area weathered the storm well. However, the biggest equine health ramifications were trauma and insects, especially related to mosquitoes. Some vector-borne diseases of humans and horses are transmitted by mosquitoes. Horse owners should keep a lookout for possible symptoms in their horses.
The rainbow after the storm
There is still a lot of cleaning up to do even a few months after the hurricane. Sadly, alongside the positive livestock stories from the storm, there were some negatives.
Williams said cattle in his area did not fare as well as the horses. He described situations of yearlings continually running from mosquitoes and sometimes exhausted livestock laying down only to be engulfed by mosquitoes. Some cattle died from anemia or even asphyxiation from inhaled mosquitoes blocking their airways.
Disasters don’t bring out the best in everyone. A disheartening element observed by first responders was the theft and sale of livestock and supplies, although it was uncommon.
Additionally, the presence of some inexperienced or overly emotional self-deployed volunteers was more harmful than helpful to the relief coordination involving animals. A sad example involved people putting lead ropes on halters, thinking it would be easier to catch the horses, only to have those leads snag on something. This left horses stuck and some drowned as a result.
However, there were many helpful self-deployed volunteers who were effective and very appreciated. For example, folks with experience with cattle and horse who came prepared and communicated well could take charge if needed or wait for direction. The relief efforts couldn’t have been as successful and safe without their help.
At the end of the day, this catastrophic event saw tremendous outpourings of aid and support from and for Texas’ ever-present agricultural community.
Countless people involved in the relief effort were heard saying, “We’re Texans: That’s what we do.” —Ginger Elliott, DVM
In order to help their veterinary and equine communities recuperate and revitalize, TEVA has established a fund for Hurricane Harvey veterinary relief efforts. More information can be found on their website https://texasequineva.com
