The mean season: Hurricanes bring misery to humans and pets

Published: July 5, 2012

BERKELEY COUNTY — Patricia Withrow would stand her ground, come hell or high water. On September 21, 1989, hell and high water came. It left the Lowcountry looking like a landfill. The then-14-year-old and her family stayed as Hurricane Hugo bore down on their Berkeley County farm. They would not leave. They could not leave. Their horses were family.

“We were not leaving them behind,” said Withrow, remembering 23 years ago when Hugo bludgeoned South Carolina with winds gusting to 160 miles per hour, killing 35 and causing $6 billion in damage. When the wind went silent the next morning, the world was a wreck but the horses had weathered the storm. “We all survived,” Withrow said.

Planning for the 2012 hurricane season include issues of assisting citizens and tourists who may bring their animals along when evacuating the coast. Emergency response officials figure that more than 60 percent of households have at least one pet. The state is home to approximately 90,000 horses spread across all 46 counties.

Animal owners ultimately are responsible for their care, even in emergencies. Some, unwilling to leave their animals to fend for themselves in a natural disaster, may choose to stay behind and ride out the storms. This personal choice may have consequences, including hampering the public disaster response, as well as personal injury.  

It was just this issue that led to the passage of federal legislation. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina there was public outcry about stories and images of homeless pets, including the tale of “Snowball,” the little white dog pried from the arms of a crying boy by authorities. In response, Congress passed the PETS (Pet Evacuation Transportation Standards) Act with the goal of providing resources to citizens so that they and their animals can evacuate safely.

In short, the PETS Act mandates states and local entities to include pets and service animals in their plans for citizens in disasters. No money was provided for the purchase of resources such as pet kennels and other supplies to assist. FEMA reimbursement for these resources may be requested by states only after the president declares an emergency. As seen in the 2008 Iowa floods, animal emergency response resources can run up enormous costs very quickly; officials estimate that pet emergency expenses came close to $3 million for shelters and services in just over a little more than two months.

Withrow now is a risk-management specialist and emergency planner for Berkeley County. She works with Tom Smith, director of the emergency management, office, which is responsible for response and recovery, including evacuations.

“Human life and safety are the primary concern,” said Smith. “We have limited assets to help us in our planning for animals, but we do as best we can. After a storm there’s no guarantee there will be enough motels that will take pets. And search and rescue for lost and injured animals puts a strain on our limited resources.”

In Berkeley County, as it would be in hundreds of counties nationwide, horses, goats, sheep, llamas, chickens, even pigs and backyard cattle may be considered as pets by their evacuating citizens.

“We’ve got one fellow with Texas Longhorns, and there’s someone else who has buffaloes,” said Withrow. "What do we do with them?"

Even her boss is affected.

“My daughter has a horse,” Smith said. “And we don’t have a trailer.”

“A lot of people keep their horses at riding stables,” said Withrow. “When they take their horses to shows or competitions, they hitch a ride in the stable trailer.”

“If we had enough trailers — and we don’t — that’s only one concern,” said Smith. “We’ll have thousands of people on I-26 heading west. There will be traffic jams, and those horses could be going to be stuck out there in the heat and fumes, along with possible truck or trailer break down, requiring treatment and transport needed for injured people and horses. It will be a mess.”

Smith spoke out about these concerns and others during one of a series of pre-hurricane season planning exercises held at the S.C. Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) headquarters in West Columbia, where state players came together to review potential actions.  

Disaster response in South Carolina is organized into a unified coordination structure as part of the National Incident Management System. Tasks are assigned to units called Emergency Support Functions (ESF) that support specific response issues such as transportation, communications, public works and engineering.

ESF-17 is Animal/Agriculture Emergency Response, which is administered by Clemson University's Livestock-Poultry Health division. Other Clemson Public Service Activities agencies, including the Extension Service and Regulatory Services; the S.C. Association of Veterinarians; the S.C. Animal Care and Control Association (SCACCA) comprise the ESF-17 team” that will seek to provide resources, when needed and requested, for citizens with issues affecting animals and agriculture.

The resources include lists of pet-friendly lodgings, stables and boarding facilities and known emergency shelter sites. Experienced animal handlers can be requested if animals become separated from their owners and wander after a disaster.

Marli Drum, superintendent of animal services for Columbia and the Animal Care and Control Association liaison to ESF-17, camped out on the Mississippi coast in 2005 as part of a team requested by state animal health officials to provide such animal recovery aid. She remembers finding the animals amid the rubble, many of which had not eaten for days. 

“You could walk out along the streets and just whistle and always a couple would come,” said Drum. “We could catch them and take to temporary shelters, where veterinarians would check them.”

ESF-17 may also be tasked to find resources for issues affecting production animals, crops, horticulture, the food supply or events involving misuse of agricultural chemicals. A major disaster could affect the state’s multibillion dollar agriculture industry.

If needed, state ESF-17 could request resources from outside the state, including help from the USDA. Veterinarian Mel Stephens, who attended the hurricane preparedness exercise as the state area emergency coordinator for USDA, worked with Alabama state officials during last year’s tornadoes to dispose of nearly a million chickens that were killed.

Charlotte Krugler, Clemson Livestock-Poultry Health veterinarian, is the ESF-17 liaison, which involves “revising plans, helping to determine and organize responders, attending meetings and exercises and worrying a lot.”

Sensitive to the concerns of county managers such as Withrow and Smith, she and other ESF-17 members try to help find solutions.  

“There are a lot of resources in place, but not enough,” Krugler said.

She makes a pitch for help at the local level and recommends that anyone interested in helping should contact their county emergency managers before an event. “If they have matching interests or skills to help with animal-agriculture issues, their county emergency manager can direct them further.”

Many think South Carolina is due for a hurricane. The state has not taken a direct hit from one since Hugo. South Carolina county and state emergency managers will continue to plan throughout the season ending Nov. 30, all the while hoping that high water never comes.

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