Flood

Double Trouble from Flooding and H5N1 hits Some Iowa Farms

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 13:17:15 GMT

Active flooding is still underway in parts of Iowa due to the more than 15 inches of rain that fell on parts of the state, particularly the northwest region, over the weekend, according to Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

“There were folks literally being rescued off of rooftops and flown out of the flooded areas,” Naig told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory on Tuesday. “After a couple of days, we will be able to come in and start to get a sense of what the enormity of what’s happened is and the size of the impact on the ag landscape.”

The devastation led to a disaster proclamation from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the evacuation of thousands of Iowa residents from the area.

Naig said when he talked with Reynolds early Tuesday morning, she described the damage from the rains and flooding as “extensive.” The flooding is still underway, with rivers in north-central Iowa now starting to crest, according to the National Water Prediction Service.

Naig said state officials won’t have a full sense of the crop damage or number of livestock lost in the region until the flood waters recede.

“This was already a wet part of the state, where there were some challenges around planting and replanting. They’ve just been inundated with rain throughout the spring,” Naig said.

“What we’re hearing about, certainly, is damaged and destroyed equipment. There are livestock facilities that folks are having trouble getting feed to because of washed-out roads, and there are power outages and water outages. These are just some of the things that are really challenging.”

Added Stress On Dairies
For dairy producers in northwest Iowa, the floods arrived on top of challenges they already faced from dealing with cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) or efforts to prevent the occurrence of the disease.

“Unfortunately, a lot of our cases are in dairies up in that area,” Naig said. “Think of the added stress that those folks are experiencing right now.”

Naig said, in total, Iowa has confirmed 11 dairies and three poultry sites where H5N1 has been found.

“Don’t be surprised if you continue to hear about some additional cases in the state of Iowa, because here’s the point – we’re looking for it,” Naig said. “Our farmers are testing. Turns out, when you look for it, you can find it. I think this is a little wider spread than maybe what is just being confirmed.”

Naig said he commends the Iowa dairy industry for being proactive in reporting any positive cases. When cases are confirmed, he said the state can bring in a USDA epidemiological strike team to look for clues to how H5N1 is being transmitted.

“If we’re going to experience the pain of having positive cases, let’s learn as much as we can, so that we can craft biosecurity strategies to address those things that are found to be the cause of transmission,” he said.

Wide Range Of Symptoms And Outcomes
Naig added that the scope of H5N1 infections has varied between farms as well as in individual animals.

“I think maybe early on, folks said, ‘Oh, it’s really just a kind of a minimal milk production loss, and then everything gets back to normal.’ I don’t think it’s quite that way,” he said. “Some (producers) aren’t seeing clinical signs while others see acute infections and significant milk losses. We are also hearing about some cattle mortality, though it’s maybe because of a secondary infection or condition that actually causes that mortality.”

Naig told Flory he has asked USDA to provide compensation for animals that Iowa producers have had to cull or where death occurred.

“We continue to make that request because we are seeing some losses, but that’s still a work in progress,” he said. “And, of course, again, we’re trying to get research on the ground to determine how H5N1 is behaving. The other thing is we can’t treat this as a dairy disease. It is a dairy and a poultry issue. We’ve got to think about the larger livestock industry. That’s how we’re approaching it here.”

The conversation between Naig and Flory is available in its entirety below:

A Tale Of Two Crops: Farmers Struggle Against Flooding And Drought

Goodbye, El Niño. Hello, La Niña? The Big Transition to La Niña is Already Underway

Now Is the Time to Pay Attention to the Weather Forecast: Severe Snowstorm Forecasted to Dump Multiple Feet of Snow

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 21:08:28 GMT

As the calendar flipped to the new year, Mother Nature unleashed the potential for back-to-back blasts of winter weather. From the possibility of blizzard conditions early next week, to flooding in the southeast, the impact on agriculture could be two-fold: a possible cure for drought conditions in parts of the Plains and South, but stressful for livestock.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says the forecast is pointing to a very active weather winter pattern in January, which is a hallmark of El Niño.

“There’s no question about it. As I always say, you can’t blame an individual or a single storm and El Niño, but you start looking at the overall patterns, and there’s absolutely no question that when you start seeing a pattern setting up like this, a storm pipeline from the Pacific coming across the Southwest and into the Midwest or east, that is El Niño,” Rippey says.

Eric Snodgrass is a well-known ag meteorologist who’s also watching the change in potential winter weather this month. He says El Niño reached its peak at the end of December.

“It has plateaued. And what that typically means is we tend to have what we call a back-half weighted winter, which means December is usually pretty mild, not a whole lot to talk about, but once we get going into this new year, that jet stream is really going to start to become quite a bit more active,” Snodgrass says.

Active Jet Stream Set to Bring Multiple Winter Storms

The active jet stream is exactly what the U.S. is now seeing, with multiple storms lined up for the start of the year. Rippey says it’s an active storm track that starts in the South, eventually ending up along the East Coast.

“The storm that’s coming out late this week, it’s going to be a decent storm system - a decent winter storm. But it’s going to pale in comparison to the blockbuster storm that we see coming for early next week,” he says.

High Plains with current storm 53% covered in shallow layer of snow. Feet of snow on the way? pic.twitter.com/fAZzWeHurr
— Allen Motew (@QTweather) January 5, 2024

Snowfall reports from the National Weather Service (NWS) Albuquerque, New Mexico station shows impressive snowfall already falling in the Rocky Mountains. As of midday Friday, January 5, NWS reports 10 to 18 inch snowfall totals in the southern Rockies before it made its way across Kansas.

Eye-Popping Snowfall Totals Possible

However, Rippey says this first snow system isn’t the headline. Early to mid-week next week, a different significant storm will emerge from the Southwest and Four Corners region, which could bring monstrous snowfall totals.

“That storm will be going across the Central and Southern Plains Monday and reach the lower Great Lakes region by Wednesday,” Rippey says. “That system really has the potential to create a wide degree of disarray across the country.”

(Farm Journal)

The storm early next week will pack a punch with high winds, but it will also bring much needed drought relief. NOAA is warning of weather impacts that will span from Coast to Coast. They report heavy snow is likely in the higher elevation with blizzard conditions possible. The high winds are expected to hit much of the Central and Eastern U.S., with some winds exceeding 50 MPH.

“Some of them can be big snow makers through parts of the Midwest and some of them are putting down some heavy rains across the South,” Snodgrass says. “And the big picture here is that our U.S. Drought Monitor, which still shows about 50% to 55% of the land area in some form of drought, about one-third of it in the drought categories, that could really change a lot in the coming weeks.”

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Winter arrives finally. 10 days from now mountains, West, Plains, North BURIED! pic.twitter.com/EbPLLFlB74
— Allen Motew (@QTweather) January 5, 2024

The winter storm is forecasted to bring heavy snow, which could provide relief for winter wheat country.

“We’ve already chipped away at the drought across the Great Plains,” Rippey says. “If you look at USDA’s winter wheat condition, we saw improvement from the end of November to the end of December. Kansas winter wheat jumped from 32% good to excellent at the end of November to 43% in December. Oklahoma saw a big jump from 53% to 67% good to excellent. So more moisture, more snow - that’ll be good news for winter wheat.

(Farm Journal)

While the storm system will bring much needed relief, it could also pose problems for livestock producers.

“As the storm crosses the southern Great Plains and moves into the Midwest, we’re going to have a big wind-driven snow event. So certainly, some livestock stress. And then for the Southeast, those folks where it’s not a drought situation, they could be dealing with flooding and flash flooding, as well as our first significant severe weather outbreak of the season early next week,” Rippey says.

Euro model... 😳❄️🌨️ pic.twitter.com/PqZKmP7G0W
— Darin D. Fessler ✝️ (@DDFalpha) January 5, 2024

Much Need Moisture in Areas

As the south braces for impacts of the forecasted storms, Snodgrass says that moisture is desperately needed.

“The South has been, in my opinion, on the wildest ride with moisture in the last 24 months compared to any other place on the planet at this point,” he says.

And as this El Niño pattern takes hold, Snodgrass thinks cotton country could final see some relief this winter.

“I think the best chance for recovery and moisture is going to be across the South, pockets of the Mid-South, the Southeast and in the East Coast,” Snodgrass says. “That track from Texas to South Carolina to Maine, I like it. That area is going to be getting some good moisture.”

It’s not just snow that producers will need to brace for, but temperatures are forecast to plunge with a possible Artic blast. Weather models are pointing to extremely cold and extreme Arctic air also moving in.

Still watching historic climate emergency risk from Arctic blast 📉❄️🌡️

Overnight weather model [ECMWF HRES 00Z] still shows historic Arctic blast into the Pacific Northwest and Western U.S. in 6-7 days.

Extremely cold w/potential for snowfall along California coast including… pic.twitter.com/PsNLPAccdj
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) January 5, 2024

The Duration of El Niño

Snodgrass says the question is how long until El Niño fades, and the impact it could have on the spring.

“If El Niño peaks right now and begins to fade throughout the rest of winter and into spring, I’ve looked at every event since 1960, and most times when that happens, we tend to do okay in the Midwest the following year in terms of precipitation. That’s not a guarantee, but you look at historically, we tend to go out of ridge riding storms, which are often the types of storms that save crops,” he says.

That scenario, however, spells trouble for key growing areas of the South this spring and summer.

“The only way you can get a ridge riding storm system, though, is to put heat and drought across the South. That’s the Cotton Belt that could be impacted negatively by that,” Snodgrass says. “That’s all speculative. But that’s all you got this time of years to base it off of those bigger picture things.”

Areas of the Country Could Still Be Dry This Spring

With the active storms to start the year, there are still pockets of the country that need much more moisture to replenish dry soils before spring.

“I’m worried about the Northern Plains,” Snodgrass says. “I’m worried about the Canadian Prairie on drought. I’m worried about the lack of snowfall we’ve had so far in parts of the upper Midwest. We need to be piling a whole lot more snow there.”

The debate of just how long El Niño will last is heating up. There’s even talk of La Nina making a return this year. There’s no certainty either way, but for now, Snodgrass says a strong shot of winter weather isn’t a bad thing.

“I’ll just tell you this, the nastiest winters we’ve ever had, have almost always given us fantastic springs and summers,” he says. “So, I hate to say it, but I’m wishing for just a terrible second half of winter so that I can talk to you next spring summer and say, ‘Hey wasn’t that terrible? But now look what we got out of it.’”

Related News:

What impact did El Nino have on the weather in 2023?

Farmer Nightmare: Government Floods Family Twice, Kills Herd and Refuses to Pay Damages

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 17:42:01 GMT

We break, you pay?

In a repeat nightmare, the government twice flooded Richie Devillier’s 900-acre farm and home under several feet of water, killed his cattle, ran his family through emotional hell—and insisted he foot the entire bill.

When a new highway flood wall trapped Devillier’s land within a figurative bathtub and erased several generations’ worth of toil in 2017 and 2019, state officials washed their hands of the Texas farmer and refused to pay damages. In 2020, Devillier sued for compensation under the Fifth Amendment, but was told he had no legal grounds to seek compensation from the state. Undaunted, Devillier is petitioning the Supreme Court.

The case is a stunner. No one in the courts or bureaucracy calls Devillier a liar or contests the basic facts of his claims. Instead, the state, backed by the Fifth Circuit, says citizens cannot seek compensation under the Fifth Amendment unless specifically allowed to do so by Congress—in direct defiance of decades of Supreme Court precedent.

The clock is running: Devillier’s operation will flood again when the next catastrophic deluge falls and his land will turn back into water world, directly attributable to the state’s action. “The government is goliath,” he says. “The government officials are untouchable, almost, but we’re about to touch them with the Bill of Rights.”

(Farm Journal)

“I want people to listen and learn about my story,” he adds. “It’s not about me because it doesn’t matter what state you live in. They can come for your land next.”

Bay of Hell

In 2017, weary to the bone after days spent in a surreal fight to keep the last scraps of his operation afloat, Richie Devillier walked through the foul debris of his sludge-filled farm home, and entered the master bedroom, only to encounter a site suited to fiction. Standing on his bed, a whitetail doe stared out a window at water to the horizon.

(Farm Journal)

Triggered by rising water, the bizarre deer incident captures the catastrophic absurdity of Devillier’s misfortune, but is sharply contrasted by recorded family history. Since 1920, the Devillier clan has farmed their high-ground land in southeast Texas’ Chambers County, outside Winnie, roughly 60 miles east of Houston. Across 100 years of rice cultivation and cattle production, there have been no floods on the Devillier property—until now.

Devillier, 59, is the fourth generation to work the land, growing bluestem hay and raising Hereford cattle sired by Brahman bulls. Alongside his wife, Wendy, Devillier also raises horses on a small scale, and his son, McCain, 22, will one day steer the family operation.

(Farm Journal)

Dotted with isolated knobs, Devillier’s 900 acres of pancake-flat ground rubs against I-10, an east-west federal highway connecting Houston and Beaumont. Beginning in the 1990s, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) updated I-10. The section adjacent to Devillier’s property was completed in the early 2000s. The renovation raised I-10 18” and erected a 32”-high concrete barrier in the median, ensuring the eastbound lanes remained navigable during floods. Translated: TxDOT built a dam in the middle of the highway and Deviller’s land is on the receptacle side.

(Citing ongoing litigation, TxDOT declined all Farm Journal questions related to the Devillier case.)

“When TxDOT got finished with the highway project, I didn’t think the drainage would be sufficient when things got bad, but they were supposed to be experts,” Devillier says. “Before their project, the freeway bridged over the bayous. Instead, they boxed in the bayous with square box culverts. I knew the barrier dam, combined with insufficient drainage, was not going to work.”

(Farm Journal)

“I grew up here and worked beside my grandfather, father, cousins, and family, and we’d been through monsoonal rains and weather events of every kind, but we’d never seen anything but normal drainage,” Devillier continues. “There were no floods and no flood history.”

“No TxDOT representative or government official ever came and warned me that when we got major water, my land and my neighbor’s land would turn into a bay,” he adds. “I wish they had.”

Never to Return

On Aug. 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and its rains drowned a 20-mile stretch from Winnie to the Trinity River for 2 to 3 miles north of I-10. Devillier’s farm, along with the property of his neighbors, was swallowed, courtesy of the I-10 concrete barrier dam.

“Hurricanes and terrible storms are part of life here,” he describes, “but this flood was something different because the water had nowhere to go thanks to the highway barrier.”

(Farm Journal)

Devillier’s farmland went under 3’-6’ of water and his house filled with approximately 23” of water, but more pressing than his own dire circumstance, Devillier rushed a half-mile to his octogenarian parent’s home, rescuing Richard and Barbara from 3’ of water. Richard, born on the Devillier family farm, gathered a handful of mementos and exited the house and property for the final time of his life. He would never again set foot on the land of his legacy and birthplace.

Richard, along with Barbara, flew to Oregon to stay with a daughter and wait out the flood and rebuilding process. Worn and wiped out, Richard suffered a heart attack and died in Oregon, 2,000 miles distant from Winnie. Two years later, Barbara also passed away in Oregon.

Richard and Barbara returned to Chambers County—in an urn. “My dad’s heart couldn’t handle seeing our farm disappear,” Devillier says. “And none of it had to happen.”

The Sacrifice

Devillier floundered under total flood devastation. Overlooking his farm, the highway barrier dam was a line of demarcation—the edge of a vast wall of water. Days into the flood, standing at the concrete barrier on the dry, south side of I-10 and looking north, Devillier soaked in the reality of havoc stretching for miles.

(Farm Journal)

“It was incomprehensible,” he recalls. “I’d never seen or imagined anything like what was before me. We could drive down I-10 on lanes with no standing water, yet the concrete barrier had waves lapping over from water that covered my farm. You could stick your hand over the barrier into an ocean of water.”

Devillier’s family called a county judge, desperate for permission to pierce the highway dam and relieve the pressure off his acreage. “We begged him to let us knock down a portion of the barrier, but he wouldn’t make the call. Nobody wanted liability. We also knew if we knocked a hole in the dam, every person downstream would sue us.”

“The TxDOT engineers straight out said, ‘If we don’t have the barrier, then we can’t get our emergency vehicles back and forth.’ It was plainly evident: Myself and my neighbors were the sacrifice,” Devillier adds.

Water covered Devillier’s farmland over a week, either ruining his equipment and possessions or carrying them to parts unknown. One thousand hay bales bobbed in the wake, alongside the carcasses of bloated cows and horses floating across the property. His cattle, the centerpiece of the operation, fared the worst, congregating atop tiny knobs in relative shallows. Motoring in a Jon boat, Devillier and McCain tried in vain to save stranded livestock.

(Farm Journal)

“There were cattle hung up in barns and calves with their heads just above water, covered in fire ants. There were cattle standing in our garage and around the house. There were cows congregating on berms, and lost calves, and cows off by themselves. It was ghastly to watch them suffer.”

The cattle were living dead—shellshocked on their hooves. “Grabbing a cow in 4’ water from a 16’ aluminum boat powered by a 40-horsepower outboard and towing it to safety doesn’t work,” Devillier describes. “The cow is an anchor.”

Devillier watched his herd die. “After days in water, the cows slip their hair. They bloat and their skin sloughs off. It’s heartbreaking and sickening to watch. It’s a feeling of helplessness to see your cattle in such a state and to know the value of your real estate—what you’ve worked your entire life for—is crumbling.”

(Farm Journal)

After four days, the water around Devillier’s house (built on the property’s highest elevation) began receding. He entered his home to find a doe in the master bedroom. “The deer had pushed a door screen out, walked in, and found a high spot on the bed. We coaxed her out and she splayed across the floor, saw daylight coming through the door, and took off. It was just one more surreal detail in a scene I can’t adequately describe.”

The “scene” across Devillier’s home and farm was apocalyptic, his acres littered with dead cattle, lumber, personal effects, and flotsam of every stripe. For days, loading carcasses and trash with a tractor onto a gooseneck trailer, he steadily hauled everything 10 miles away and deposited the goods at the county dump—a lifetime of personal memories and rotting flesh into the same hole.

Bit by bit, step by step, despite no flood insurance, Devillier regained his bearings, rebuilding his home and agriculture operation—without a dime from the state.

Two years later—it happened again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Lump It or Leave It

Roughly 24 months after enduring the worst losses of his life, Devillier’s land again flooded at a catastrophic level courtesy of the highway barrier—his farm submerged and his house filled with 23” of water.

Tropical Storm Imelda put Devillier’s land under water for roughly seven days in September 2019. For the second time, his operation was devastated.

“Once again, this was no natural flood,” he emphasizes. “The government made me their retention pond.”

No apologies, explanation, or compensation from the state. Lump it or leave it.

(Farm Journal)

“Words can never express the strain on my wife and family,” Devillier says. “The first flood was numbing and took me out mentally, but the second flood spurred me to clarity. I knew my task. I had to solve this for my family and neighbors. We’ve been terribly wronged. After Harvey, the state said we experienced a once-in-a-thousand-years-flood. No sir. They never get to say that again. It’s going to happen over and over. Why? They built a dam.”

“I couldn’t sue the state for being incompetent, but they’re not allowed to take my property without paying. So says the Fifth Amendment.”

Backed by local legal representation, Devillier and his neighbors sued for damages in Texas court, supported by state and federal law. However, Texas state attorneys threw a curveball and removed the case to federal court, where the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the case, claiming Congress has passed no laws allowing private citizens to sue states for takings of property.

Despite the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of “just compensation” embedded in the Constitution and decades of Supreme Court precedent affirming that guarantee, the federal court erased Devillier’s claim.

Enter the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national public-interest law firm and legal advocacy group. In 2023, IJ petitioned the Supreme Court to hear Devillier’s case.

(Farm Journal)

“Insanity,” says IJ attorney Robert McNamara. “You know it’s a crazy ruling when a court says state governments can build what they want and do to their citizens what was done to Richie Devillier. This is part of a growing refusal by courts to enforce the Constitution at all. The whole point of federal court is to protect your federal rights, but incredibly, they are often the place where the government runs to get those rights extinguished.”

Taking of private property without just compensation is an increasing concern in the U.S., McNamara insists. “Most of these cases don’t make national news, but if the state doesn’t feel like paying—it doesn’t, and often there is no accountability. That’s why Richie Devillier’s case is so important to every American. It’s a chance for the Supreme Court to step in and say, ‘No. Just compensation means just compensation.’ It’s not hard to understand or complicated: Pay people for what you take.”

Steadfast

Deviller is forced to reckon with time. Whether tomorrow, next year, or the following decade, floodwaters again will rise to the highway barrier’s lip and swallow his land.

“That’s what a dam with woefully inadequate drainage does,” he says.

The Supreme Court will reconvene in fall 2023: Devillier’s petition is on the docket, awaiting consideration.

“The public is shocked when they find out what the state was willing to do to its citizens and then pretend they are not responsible,” McNamara says. “What the state has put the Devillier family through is horrifying and their experience runs counter to the freedoms that define America.”

“Rest assured,” McNamara concludes, “if it floods again in 2023, the government will be certain the only thing Richie Devillier is entitled to is a pat on the head and no compensation.”

Devillier is steadfast.

(Farm Journal)

“We’ve been so blessed by the help of family, friends, and strangers, and we’ve got extreme confidence in our local attorneys and the Institute for Justice,” he emphasizes. “A lot of people in our area gave up, sold out, and left, but I won’t. These 900 acres are my life, the same ground worked for generations by my family in good faith that if we obeyed the law, our government would treat us accordingly. I won’t walk away and I’ll fight for every American.”

“They did this to me and they will come for you eventually,” Devillier adds. “If we can’t sue for the wrongs done by the state to our personal property, what is the point of having a Fifth Amendment or constitutional rights?”

For more from Chris Bennett (cbennett@farmjournal.com 662-592-1106) see:

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Cottonmouth Farmer: The Insane Tale of a Buck-Wild Scheme to Corner the Snake Venom Market

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Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man

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While America Slept, China Stole the Farm

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Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam

Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History

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Flash Flooding Hits Texas Panhandle, Several Feedyards Now Face Massive Cleanup and Cattle Losses

Tue, 30 May 2023 18:18:41 GMT

From drought to now major flooding, historic rainfall fell in the Texas Panhandle over the weekend and prompted flooding. Hereford, Texas, is an area that was hit especially hard by the historic rains, with feedyards flooded and cattle trapped. Now, work is underway to pump a massive amount of water out.

According to the National Weather Service in Amarillo, the Hereford, Texas, area unofficially received 8 inches of rain in the past month. The heaviest rainfall event came Friday morning, with some volunteer observers showing 2.45 inches of rain fell in just 40 minutes.

@NWSAmarillo US Highway 385 is now being overtopped in the south side of Hereford. Water has come up approximately 5 feet in the last 30 min. Taken 9:20am pic.twitter.com/Gb1wCh49sT
— Brady Kendrick (@BradyKendrick24) May 27, 2023

According to John Robinson, senior vice president of membership and communications for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the water simply had nowhere to go, which prompted the flooding around Hereford. With such a quick rainfall event, there also wasn’t any advance notice that would have allowed residents to prepare.

“It’s flat topography down there. Once those creek beds that have been really dry for years fill up, there’s no place for that water to go. So that water spills over into low-lying areas adjacent to those creek beds. And it’s really caused a problem around the Hereford-Amarillo area down in the panhandle of Texas,” says Robinson.

The flooding impacted residential areas, and from an agricultural perspective, Hereford is also a major cattle production area and home to several feedyards.

“It’s one of the largest cattle feeding areas in the United States, so there are definitely widespread impacts,” says Robinson. “There’s probably going to be some production losses, some performance losses in terms of rate of gain, things like that.”

FLOODING IN HEREFORD continues. All of this water is headed to Buffalo lake and if/when it is full, the rest will head towards Palo Duro Canyon. Here is some video from @DowningMitchell #txwx #flooding #heavyrain @ABC7Amarillo @StormSearch7 @natwxdesk @NWSAmarillo pic.twitter.com/oLXi3x1AHU
— Corbin Voges WX (@CorbinVogesWX) May 27, 2023

Robinson points out while the short-term impact is painful for any feedyard dealing with the flooding, he says it shouldn’t create a big impact on cattle supply longer-term.

“It’s mostly going to work its way out here in the next few days,” he says. “There shouldn’t be supply chain increases, there shouldn’t be significant price increases. Who knows what else might happen in the meantime, but the impacts are going to be relatively short-lived for the vast majority of these areas.”

Major flooding in Hereford, TX following the overnight storm. Houses, cars, and semi-trucks under water as authorities work to divert citizens from the area. @ABC7Amarillo @StormSearch7 pic.twitter.com/GzY48iKqK7
— Mitchell Downing (@DowningMitchell) May 27, 2023

Some rumored estimates over the holiday weekend claimed 25,000 head of cattle died in the flooding, but NCBA says its representatives are in constant conversation with several producers in the area, and those estimates are way too high. NCBA says everyone is still trying to get a handle on losses, but it’s a fraction of the 25,000 number being thrown around.

Robinson says feedyards around Hereford are getting creative in pumping water out and cattle to dry ground.

“On one yard in particular, they brought in some dewatering pumps from oil drilling sites, maybe as far away as New Mexico. They’re pumping that water out, in some cases, over a mile to get it off of the feedyard so they can dry things out, get cattle to a safe, dry place to bed down,” he says.

Most of the water has receded in the Hereford area, but Robinson says there will be a lot of clean-up work that follows.

“While they’re trying to get all this other work done, they’re getting fences repaired, VDR pens repaired and dried. And it’s a lot of work. But there’s a committed crew of folks down there doing it, and not just from the agriculture industry, but from oil and gas and others as well,” says Robinson.

More precipitation could be on the way. Forecasts point to more severe weather—and heavy rains—which could cause further flooding.

Ranchers Battle Back-to-Back Blizzards, Now Near-Record Flooding Blankets the East, Yet North Dakota Still Isn't Drought-Free

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 20:40:52 GMT

Farmers and ranchers across western North Dakota and Montana were staring at a bleak drought picture for a second consecutive year just a few weeks ago. The weather took a sharp turn with a blizzard Easter week, and now more snow and torrential rains are causing flooding across areas of North Dakota.

While moisture conditions have improved a little too much in some areas, USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says the drought gradient has sharpened. The wet areas have gotten wetter, while many of the dry areas, including the central and southern Plains, have actually gotten drier.

Back to back killer April blizzards…
(For those never experiencing one.) pic.twitter.com/edhxZSAC8A
— WC Mckenzie (@longXranch) April 24, 2022

North Dakota has seen more moisture in two weeks than some areas have seen in two years, but overall, the state isn’t free of drought just yet.

“For North Dakota, the April 12-14 blizzard was particularly extreme, with widespread 1 to 2½-foot snowfall totals, winds above 60 mph, and multiple days below 10°F in the storm’s wake, says Brad Rippey, USDA meteorologist. It was a very unusual event, even for North Dakota in April. And, of course, it was followed within a few days by the April 17-18 snowfall and then last weekend’s powerful storm.”

The storm this past weekend made it extremely difficult for ranchers who had cows in the middle of calving. Ranchers across western North Dakota and eastern Montana are exhausted, as three back-to-back blizzards has bade calving season especially challenging this year, and livestock losses are still unknown.

“It was really stressful on the cows and the calves,” says Carrie Roth, a producer in Mott, North Dakota told AgDay affiliate KFYR before this past weekend’s blizzard . “Calves are getting sick. Cows are all mixed up from being confined and just it’s just been a challenge I guess getting kind of back on track with everything.”

KFYR also spoke to Julie Schaff Ellingson with the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association. After the first storm, Ellingson was also concerned about how livestock losses could mount as ranchers found more cattle and calves buried in by the snow.

“In many areas there are huge drifts and so livestock that maybe perished might be covered in snow,” Ellingson told KFYR. “We have to wait for some time and maybe for some snow to melt reveal some of those losses in many areas that are still inaccessible because of that incredible drifting of snow.”

Power lines falling like dominos in western North Dakota today! #plant22 pic.twitter.com/4wzzHQSNTq
— Duran Vigesaa (@DuranVigesaa) April 24, 2022

The videos on social media from this past weekend’s storm showed powerlines falling like dominoes. North Dakota experienced blizzard conditions in the western part of the state and more than 4 inches of rain in the east.

“In eastern North Dakota, where the latest storm brought heavy rain, near-record flooding will occur over the next few days, north of Grand Forks toward the Canadian border,” says Rippey. “The Red River at Oslo, Minnesota, should crest later this week very close to the record set on April 1, 2009.”

(Farm Journal)

How can an area so desperate for moisture go to near-record flooding in such a short period of time? Rippey says it’s a combination of heavy rainfall and snowmelt. The two factors collided, followed by the flooding across the area.

“The flooding in the Red River Valley and environs is largely due to the recent rainfall, amounting to as much as 2 to 3½ inches, which fell on partially frozen soils, maximizing runoff. In addition, the last of the snow melted during the storm, adding a bit more runoff and effectively becoming a 3- to 5-inch event,” says Rippey.

The moisture has been a mixed bag for producers across the state. While many needed the moisture, it came with extreme conditions. Even with all the flooding and snow, Rippey says the state still isn’t drought-free.

“It’s hard to believe, but there is some lingering drought in western North Dakota,” he says. “Snow from the April 12-14 blizzard blew into massive drifts, minimizing the amount of moisture that stayed on - and melted into- open fields. Although the situation continues to further improve in western North Dakota with each passing storm, it will take time to replenish the soil moisture profile and for drought-damaged rangeland and pastures to fully recover.”