Floods are the most common natural disasters, and the most common causes of flood are excessive rainfall, snowmelt (including sudden volcano snowmelt) and hurricane storm surges. Some other less-common causes are tsunamis (discussed in the Earthquake section below), and dam and levee failure.

Floods destroys cropland, pastureland, forests, cities, and homes – basically anything in its path. Since damage from a flood usually covers a large geographical area, monetary damage can often run into the billions of dollars. Rivers and streams change course, often depositing large amounts of sediment or gravel over large areas, making any type of agriculture impossible.

Preparatory measures

If you buy a farm in a floodplain, check with your insurance agent to ensure that flood insurance is available. If your farm is below a dam, check out the dam’s safety record and visit with the government agency responsible for its maintenance. Make sure that access roads are not in the floodplain.

If you pasture animals in a floodplain, make sure your fencing arrangement allows an escape route for them to go to higher ground. Goats caught in high water risk ingesting water contaminated with everything from agricultural chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides to human fecal matter and petroleum-based and other industrial chemicals. Remove barbed wire from areas that are subject to flooding. Animals can and do injure themselves severely on unseen submerged barbed wire.

Plan an evacuation route, should it be necessary to move animals any distance. Ensure that the route will not be cut off by rising waters. Practice loading the animals so they may become accustomed to the procedure. Keep your trailers maintained so they will be ready to use in an emergency. If you are in an area subject to flash flooding, plan at least two evacuation routes.

You should have a destination as close as possible to your farm where you can keep your animals until the water recedes. A neighboring farm, local fairgrounds, sale barn, or show arena make excellent emergency accommodations for livestock. Coordinate with the owner(s) well in advance.

As much as possible, protect feed from rising water. If that is not possible, plan to evacuate as much feed as you can, just as you plan to evacuate your livestock. Water supplies will probably be contaminated for several days following the flood. Have an alternative water supply plan and a back-up should that fail.

Emergency actions

Monitor rising water closely. If it looks like you will need to evacuate your animals, begin doing so early on. Keep them as calm as possible. Avoid leading them through flood waters which can hide all sorts of hazards – logs, debris, etc. Bear in mind that flood waters can also carry electrical current from downed power lines, etc. If you do have to lead animals through high water, be careful of fences that may be hidden.

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