Earlier this week, my area was inundated with a torrential downpour of rain. Some places got up to 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. There was a lot of flooding, which is very unusual for us- the last time we had a flood of any seriousness was in 1972. I called in to work, as I was unable to cross two brand new rivers on the one road I had to take into town. I began to worry about Rocky after I heard about some other road closings that effectively closed off any access I might have to him.
It occurred to me for the first time that there would be nothing I could do if the barn I board him at were to flood badly enough for the horses to need to be evacuated. Saying that, I don't mean to sound naive, but my area rarely has "evacuation" type weather. No tornados, hurricanes, or -until now- floods. Sure we have some hard winters, but that is easily solved with hay and a good winter blanket. Plus, Rocky grows a thick coat so he doesn't often need a blanket anyway. (My favorite is the thick fur that grows behind his ears; it's downy soft but makes his ears look all cute and small because of the amount of fuzz.)
It took me a while to manage to contact my barn owner the day of the flooding, but once I caught her on the phone she reasurred me that the horses were all okay. I was able to breathe much easier after that, but for a while I had been trying mightily not to panic. This was the type of random, suddenly dangerous situation that you can't do anything about when it happens. Our meterologists didn't even know the storm was going to be as bad as it was, how were we supposed to plan for it?
The thing is, I don't know what I would have done even if I had known. I lucked out in many ways, but it made me wonder what people in other parts of the country have planned for major weather events such as the one that inspired this post. Do you have a place that you know you can take your animals in the event of a flood/tornado/hurricane/other extreme weather? Would you try to leave your area, or dig in and hope for the best?
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