Major poultry and meat companies are starting to resume operations in the Carolinas as the torrential rains and flooding unleashed by Hurricane Florence start to subside.

September 17, 2018

Perdue Farms Inc. resumed operations at its Lewiston, North Carolina chicken-processing plant on Saturday and plans to reopen its facilities in Dillon, South Carolina and Rockingham, North Carolina on Monday, according to an email from spokesman Joe Forsthoffer.

Sanderson Farms Inc. said initial surveys show no significant damage at its North Carolina facilities and power has been restored at its Kinston plant. Tyson Foods Inc.’s plants in the Carolinas and Virginia have power and are expected to resume operations Monday, with the exception of a poultry plant in Monroe, North Carolina. The company’s working to ensure that its North Carolina farms running on generator power have fuel supplies, spokesman Derek Burleson said by email on Sunday.

Hog futures climbed for three straight days through Friday, when the storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane. North Carolina is among the nation’s top producers of hogs, chicken and turkeys, and many livestock processors had halted operations in the state and its neighbors ahead of the deluge. Florence was downgraded to a tropical depression early Sunday as winds diminished to 35 miles per hour, but officials said the threat of heavy rainfall persisted.

“Given the amount of rain those areas continue to receive, our assessment will continue through the weekend,” Sanderson Farms Chief Executive Officer Joe Sanderson Jr. said in a statement posted on the company’s website Saturday. “Our live inventory and the assets of our independent poultry producers in the region comprise a significant portion of our operations. Given the logistical difficulties caused by flooding and impassable roads, assessments of damage to those facilities will also continue.”