When the southern United States was hit by the one-two punch of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, homes and humans weren’t the only ones affected. Universities and research facilities, which house thousands of animals used in research projects along with millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, were also dealt a devastating blow.
After Tropical Storm Allison impacted thousands of lab animals housed underground at Houston’s Texas Medical Center in 2001, new systems were put in place to prevent future catastrophic losses. The Medical Center has since updated their facilities, including the installation of new floodgate networks to seal off basement and first floor facilities from rising waters, along with new aboveground electrical vaults, generators, and water pump systems. The vivarium has been relocated as an additional precaution against the potential flooding, and animals now reside on upper floors of the building.
Other biomedical research facilities in Houston, including Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center, had also sustained significant damage and loss when disastrous floodwaters filled the basement and first floors of their facilities. They too have since installed new floodgates and implemented other safeguards, and those efforts paid off when Harvey hit. “Not a single animal was hurt or killed or even seemed to be bothered by the storm,” University of Texas Health Science Center animal facilities director Mary Robinson said in an interview with Science News.
Similarly, Louisiana State University has implemented disaster plans and offers resources for surrounding areas following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Through disaster planning, facilities take responsible measures to mitigate the effects of damages that cannot be otherwise prevented. In a chapter on disaster planning and emergency preparedness, The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals recommends that facilities outline “the actions necessary to prevent animal pain, distress, and deaths due to loss of systems such as those that control ventilation, cooling, heating, or provision of potable water.”
According to Bradford S. Goodwin Jr., the Director of Animal Research facilities at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, plans should be “adaptable and flexible”, because natural disasters tend to be unpredictable in their effects. In the 2010 article Tropical Storm and Hurricane Recovery and Preparedness Strategies, Goodwin recommends a plan that includes “an evacuation strategy for the animals, data backup, and identification of emergency equipment such as generators and communication systems.”
In 2012, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, which monitors compliance with the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, incorporated a disaster planning requirement into its oversight of research animal facilities. Institutions are required to have a custom disaster plan, and must train their staff to implement that plan in the event of an emergency to ensure the welfare of both animals and personnel. The plan must include a location-based risk assessment and mitigation strategies to address all known vulnerabilities, including the likelihood of floods.
In the past, hurricanes and other extreme weather events have caused devastating losses for the research community, but they have also taught universities, research institutions and the animal research community some valuable lessons about being prepared.
For more information on being prepared for disaster, visit OLAW’s Disaster Planning and Response page, which includes resources, references, a webinar, lessons learned, and guidance material to assist institutions with animal care and use programs in planning and responding to natural and other disasters.
Does your research facility have a plan in place for unforeseen events and natural disasters? Is your staff prepared to act in the event of an emergency? Help your fellow facility managers and researchers by sharing your methods of preparation in the comments!
