As the US state of Florida prepares itself for Hurricane Irma, the most powerful hurricane ever recorded over the Atlantic Ocean, farmers in Texas remain in recovery mode following Hurricane Harvey.

There were several days of torrential rain in Texas, with over 50in of rain recorded in parts.

Nine trillion gallons of rain were estimated to have fallen on the Gulf Coast as a result of the hurricane and flooding ensued.

While farmers tried to move cattle to higher ground, vast swathes of land remain under water with hundreds of cattle stranded in the flood waters.

A video from the Humane Society of the United States shows the cattle, some stuck on higher ground and surrounded by water and some trying to make their way to drier land.

“While we know that thousands of pets and the people who care about them have been dealt a terrible blow by Hurricane Harvey, cattle are also suffering, and substantially so,” said Dr Dickie Vest, DVM, senior medical director of the HSUS Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, in Murchison, Texas.

The society has announced that it is prepared to assist the existing response to bring water and food to cattle and equines in distress.

Dr Vest has noted that there are three primary threats facing the animals: a lack of fresh water, limited accessibility to food in severely flooded pastures and stress related to these environmental circumstances.

“In areas where there was an ocean surge, the water that they are surrounded by or standing in may be too brackish and that creates a life-threatening crisis for them.

“We also understand that the stress that these animals are experiencing today will directly impact their health status over the next several months and we aim to relieve as much of this stress as we can by enabling these animals to access fresh water and quality forage immediately,” he said.

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Farmer Writes: coping with Hurricane Harvey

Watch: dramatic moments as cattle moved through floodwaters in Texas