Along with the entire poultry industry EGG-NEWS recognizes the unfortunate disruption of life and the sad loss of at least 160 residents of affected states with the death toll expected to rise as first responders gain access to remote regions of West Virginia and North Carolina. Condolences are extended to the families of those lost in the floods that accompanied the catastrophic event.
The egg industry appears to have been mildly impacted by Hurricane Helene with Cal-Maine Foods the major producer in the southeast reporting minor damage. Large complexes near Gainesville were largely unaffected other than by power failures and inconvenience relating to access.
The Hurricane disrupted the broiler industry in the region mainly through plant closures as a result of disruption of grid power and in a few cases, loss of municipal water required to allow processing. All the major integrators in the region were affected including Pilgrim’s Pride, Wayne-Sanderson, Case Farms, House of Raeford and Amick among others. The Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Douglasville, GA. sustained severe damage that has closed the plant.
Across the industry, individual growers sustained wind damage to buildings and some have reported flooding. Most operations managed to preserve flocks using emergency generators to power ventilation. As with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the major problem related to adequate storage of fuel to power generators. Other than in a few cases, road access permitted refueling until power was restored.
Road in many parts of western North Carolina were severely affected by landslides and subsidence and it will take many months before damaged bridges and roads are repaired. This will require reduced loads and deviations with rerouting for feed delivery and flock transport.
Hurricane Helene and the deluge that followed affected cotton and other row crops, but the affected states are not major producers of corn and soybeans as compared to the top ten states in the Midwest that were unscathed.
Flooding with damage to railroad tracks affected Florida and western North Carolina although critical connections between Tennessee and Georgia were running after temporary repairs including removal of downed trees and repair of power lines lines and track after washaways. Norfolk Southern warned of extensive delays as a result of damage in West Virginia and South Carolina.
The impact from Helene was more attributed to torrential rain and flooding rather than to wind damage. Meteorologists and climate experts attribute the power of the storm and extensive rainfall to the effects of global warming. The rapidity with which Helene gained force while transiting the Gulf of Mexico is directly related to the temperature of surface water, fueling the intensity of the Hurricane. ClimaMeter a consortium of scientists in the E.U. estimated that over a decade, hurricanes have resulted in approximately 25 percent more rainfall and are up to 10 percent more intense in terms of wind speed than in previous years. Although Hurricane Helene is regarded as a rare and unique event, federal agencies and state governments together with the agricultural community can expect more frequent and more devastating storms in the future. This is based on the reality of elevated ocean temperatures, attributed to release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels and emissions from industry over many decades. These conclusions are based on the application of rapid attribution analyses that allows meteorologists to compare data collected during and after storms and to quantify the effect of global warming on intensity and severity of weather events.