In Missouri, occasional lightning strikes and thunderclaps are to be expected this time of year.
The area has suffered greatly as a result of recent severe weather and flooding.
Springfield farmer Jared Blackwelder and his wife Misty heard loud crashes on a Saturday morning after feeding the dairy cows, but they didn’t give it much attention.
But when Blackwelder went back to the pasture to gather the cows for the nighttime milking, he saw the terrible scene: his thirty-two dairy cows lying dead on the mulch piled on top of one another.
According to Stan Coday, president of the Wright County Missouri Farm Bureau, “he went out to bring the cows in and that’s when he found them,” CBS News reported.It occurs frequently. It does occur. The sheer quantity of animals impacted was what made this situation the worst.
The local veterinarian who performed the examination informed Coday that lightning was, in fact, the reason behind the cows’ deaths.
The cows might have sought cover under the trees in unison as the storm raged overhead.
Coday stated, “You’re at the mercy of mother nature,” and mentioned that he had lost a cow to lightning a few years prior.
Coday said that although farmers are aware of the possibility, suffering such a loss is extremely tough.
They are not like pets at all. However, I’ve raised every one of the ones I’m milking,” Blackwelder said to the Springfield News-Leader.Because you handle dairy cattle twice a day, they are a little different. It gives you a strong knock.
It’s also a financial debacle.
Blackwelder claimed to have insurance, but the News-Leader said he’s not sure if it will pay for his losses.
He estimates that the worth of each certified organic cow is between $2,000 and $2,500, resulting in a nearly $60,000.
“The majority of producers don’t have insurance,” Coday stated.“You lose everything if you lose a cow.”
In response to inquiries from nearby neighbors, Coday, a breeder of beef cows, would like to make it clear that meat from Blackwelder’s animals could not be recovered.
“Those animals are damaged, and when he found them, they had obviously been there for a few hours,” he remarked.An animal must go through a certain procedure in order to be processed. They wouldn’t have been suitable for ingestion by humans.
Because of Missouri’s gentler climate, Coday also pointed out that the majority of farmers in the state do not own a separate cow barn.
Twin babies, who died alongside their mom, believed to be youngest Hurricane Helene victims
As of Tuesday, more than 230 individuals across six different states have tragically lost their lives due to Hurricane Helene, with hundreds still unaccounted for.
Among those who perished are twin brothers Khyzier and Khazmir Williams, who are thought to be the youngest victims of the hurricane. The five-week-old twins, along with their mother Kobe Williams, died when a tree fell onto their mobile home in Thomson, Georgia.
Nobody was really taking the storm seriously,” said Mary Jones, the boys’ grandmother and Kobe Williams’ mother, during an interview with Today.com. “But then it hit, and the wind was so loud. When the power went out, Kobe got really frightened. She was so worried about the babies.”
Jones and her daughter spent the entire night listening to the storm as it tore through the outside of their home. Around 5:15 a.m., Jones fed Khyzier to let her daughter get some rest, though Kobe couldn’t sleep because of how terrified she was.
Jones eventually dozed off, while her daughter stayed awake. Less than an hour later, Jones was startled awake by a “strange shushing” sound, quickly followed by an eerie stillness.
When she went to investigate, she discovered that a tree had come crashing through her daughter’s room.
“I started shouting, ‘Kobe! Please answer me! Say something!’ It was so dark, and all I could see were the tree branches.”
When she went to investigate, she discovered that a tree had come crashing through her daughter’s room.
“I started shouting, ‘Kobe! Please answer me! Say something!’ It was so dark, and all I could see were the tree branches.”
She was cradling the babies in her arms when the tree struck her head. She was trying to shield them,” recalled Markeya Jones, her granddaughter.
Hurricane Helene has become the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
As the cleanup efforts continue, many in the southeastern region are preparing for what could be another record-setting storm, as Hurricane Milton heads toward the Tampa Bay area.
I am at a loss for words regarding the sheer level of destruction that Hurricane Helene has left behind. It breaks my heart to see how many families and livelihoods were shattered in a matter of moments.
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