Livestock vulnerability to flooding

• A conceptual model evaluates the stability of farm animals exposed to floodwaters. • Drag, lift and contraction coefficients are obtained from numerical simulations. • Vulnerability functions are proposed to assess the direct damage to livestock during floods. This paper investigates the vulnerability of livestock to flooding. A conceptual model is developed to evaluate the toppling and sliding instability of farm animals exposed to floodwaters. Numerical simulations are also employed to assess the drag, lift and contraction coefficients for some animals among the most commonly farmed. Using the results of the above model together with the few information available in literature, the vulnerability functions for these farm animals exposed to floodwaters are proposed. This is expected to improve flood damage assessment in the agricultural sector, while also enhancing flood risk evaluation and communication to farmers.