Take steps to secure your facility before bad weather hits.
Preparedness is half the battle in an emergency. Have a plan in place before disaster strikes. Doing so will give you a framework to fall back on in the event a crisis occurs. Develop an emergency plan and distribute it to those associated with your facility. Run practice drills from time to time to test your plan. Familiarity with emergency procedures will help people and animals remain calm during a catastrophe.
Preparation
Researchers disagree about whether animals can predict natural disasters. This guy's got a pretty good indication there's a storm brewing.
Create a list of contact information for critical response team members. Ideally, team members will include facility supervisors, support staff, a veterinarian, plant managers, animal husbandry staff and public safety contacts. Evaluate the facility and the hazards faced in your area. Identify alternate shelter sites and make necessary arrangements. Potential shelters for livestock include veterinary or land grant colleges, racetracks, show grounds, pastures, stables, fairgrounds and stockyards or auction facilities. For smaller animals, check with area veterinary hospitals, boarding kennels and animal shelters.
Back up computers and copy important documents. Keep backup storage devices and vital paperwork off -site.
Make an emergency supply kit containing the following items: flashlights, a transistor radio, extra batteries, fire extinguishers, tarp, rope, tape, tools needed to shut down equipment, first aid kits for humans and animals, a one- to two-week supply of food and water for humans and animals, portable corrals for livestock, collapsible cages or crates, extra collars, leashes, halters and lead ropes, blankets, a utility knife, heavy duty work gloves and copies of the facility emergency plan. Establish alternate water supplies for livestock and keep gel packs on hand for smaller animals.
Secure the Site
Remove flags from poles if high winds threaten. Wind can rip a flag to shreds.
Make sure vehicle gas tanks are full. Move vehicles to a safer location if necessary. Secure any outside furniture or decorations. Inside the facility, move crucial equipment to the center of the room and cover it in waterproof material. Shutter or board windows and sliding glass doors if high winds are a threat. Remove drapes from windows if a wildfire is approaching. Disconnect all electric equipment and shut down all electricity at the facility's breaker box. Confirm that all hazardous materials are labeled and separate any chemicals that would cause an adverse reaction if mixed.
Evacuation
Assess the approaching disaster and the structural soundness of barns when deciding whether to shelter horses or turn them out to pasture.
If evacuation is required, first send home employees not involved in the facility's critical response team, then those who have completed any facility preparation tasks for which they were responsible. Designate a spot for those remaining to assemble and take a head count to ensure everyone not yet sent home is present.
To determine whether to evacuate animals to an alternate site, weigh the risk of zoonotic disease exposure to those along evacuation transport routes and at alternate facilities. Consider whether animals will face a greater danger remaining at the current facility or being transported. Assess the structural soundness of barns before deciding whether to shelter livestock or turn them out to pasture. Depending on the disaster, livestock can be trapped or injured in barns that suffer structural damage.
Afterward
Take a minute to regroup after surviving a natural disaster.
Upon returning to the facility after the emergency has subsided, take someone with you and look for hazards---broken glass, roof damage, downed power lines or other dangers. Make repairs as soon as possible. Check animals for injury or illness. Contact others associated with the facility by phone to give them an update. Contact your insurance company and assistance agencies, if applicable.
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