Horse Owners Take Stock After Hurricane Irma

Four days after Hurricane Irma swept through Florida horse owners from Miami to Tampa Bay are finally able to assess the damages left in the storm’s wake.
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Four days after Hurricane Irma swept through Florida horse owners from Miami to Tampa Bay are finally able to assess the damages left in the storm’s wake.

Late last month Irma grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane that decimated the Caribbean and took direct aim at southern Florida. Initially, the storm was expected to bring heavy rains and winds in excess of 150 miles per hour to Miami and Naples, before turning north and targeting the rest of the state. Some south Florida horse owners loaded up their animals well in advance and evacuated to the Atlanta, Georgia, area and the Carolinas. However, it turned out that Irma had those evacuation destinations in her sights, too.

“I was expecting to invite my Florida friends to trailer up here to wait out the storm, but now all I have to offer them is s a hurricane threat,” said Nicole Maubert Walukewicz founder of the Palmetto Equine Awareness and Rescue League, in Anderson, South Carolina. “This is incredible.”

Because Irma’s path was so unpredictable and in the face of bumper-to-bumper traffic and dwindling gas supplies, many owners decided to shelter their animals in place. For Helen Yakin-Palmer, the decision to keep her horses in their Myakka City, Florida, pastures was a tough one to make

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Written by:

Pat Raia is a veteran journalist who enjoys covering equine welfare, industry, and news. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Tennessee Walking Horse, Sonny.

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