Ike's surge knocked out fences 20 miles inland

NY Times:

Two weeks after Hurricane Ike blew through Southeast Texas, cowboys on horseback and in helicopters are still trying to round up thousands of head of displaced cattle.

The storm’s surge carried cows up to 20 miles from their pastures in coastal Jefferson and Chambers Counties. Dead cows can be seen rotting in the forks of trees, and lone calves wander looking for their mothers amid overturned tractors and grain silos crushed like tin cans.

“We’re still hearing about Katrina victims, but no one seems to know about this,” said Mike Latta, a rancher and rice farmer in this agricultural community about 10 miles from the Gulf Coast. “It’s total devastation.”

Mr. Latta said he had so far recovered only 15 cows from his herd of 400 and holds out little hope of finding the rest, even as rescue efforts continue. Thus far, about 10,000 of the estimated 25,000 missing cows in the region have been found alive.

Explaining how any survived the powerful surge with waves reported over 15 feet, Hollis Gilfillian, a rancher in nearby Winnie, Tex., said that “cows are surprisingly buoyant” thanks to their four air-filled stomachs. Mr. Gilfillian said he was able to recover half of his 350 head because “they sort of floated like boats.”

Displaced and severely dehydrated cows roaming the debris- and seaweed-strewn landscape have been herded into fenced pastures north of where the storm surge ended. They are marked with brands from the scores of ranches in the area and need to be sorted so they can be returned to their owners.

It is easy to tell where the storm surge stopped because the saltwater-burnt vegetation suddenly gives way to green, and fences reappear.

“There are no fences anymore for about 20 miles inland from the coast,” said Bill Hyman, executive director of the Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas. The rushing water balled up barbed wire fencing into what looks like metal tumbleweeds.

In an effort called Operation No Fences, Mr. Hyman’s organization and the Texas Department of Agriculture, as well as the state’s AgriLife Extension Service, have been working to get hay and water to lost cattle and to help owners reclaim their animals.

Many roads remain closed in the area not because they are impassable but because roaming cattle pose a threat to motorists. Bales of hay and troughs of water have been placed on some highways to lure dehydrated and starving cattle out of the now-swampy countryside. The water troughs are replenished several times a day by fire department pumper trucks.

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Search parties on horseback have been riding in near 90-degree heat, slogging through mud and clouds of mosquitoes. They have also had to contend with snakes and alligators left behind when the stormwaters receded. The state hired a helicopter on Wednesday to help drive cattle to safer areas.

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State officials have been working with members of Congress to write an emergency appropriations bill to help affected ranchers. “We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars of damage,” said Todd Staples, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture. “You can’t imagine the destruction until you see it.”

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Astros great Carlos Lee has donated hay to the recovery effort as have other ranchers. Since the ranch land was sparsely populated it has not gotten the attention of places like Galveston and Houston, but the consequences of the storm are hard to ignore.