Canada’s west coast suffered through severe weather last week. Climate scientists refer to the extreme rain event as an atmospheric river made possible by extreme drought and this past summer’s intense heat dome, which caused a severe wildfire season. Considered a “once in a lifetime” flood event, it claimed the lives of four people and stranded close to 12,000.
And where there are people, there are often horses. Most of us are well aware that even walking through a puddle can be too much for some horses, let alone swimming across floodwaters. But that’s what a herd of horses was asked to do in order to be rescued after being trapped in floodwater overnight for 12 hours in their field in Merritt, BC.
“We’ve always had a little bit of flooding in our pastures, but nothing like this,” owners Connie Joe and Jerry McCauley told Global News. “When we got there, it was shocking at first. Then, when we saw our horses out there, in the middle of what looked like a lake, standing all huddled together, I felt we needed to help them.”