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Horse farm owner uses water trough as makeshift boat after flooding

TIVERTON, R.I. — The owner of a Rhode Island horse farm decided to make the most of flooded conditions and used a water trough as a makeshift boat.

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“I was floating on the grass,” owner Mary Charette told WJAR. “It was just kind of funny. We have never seen it overflow like this. We couldn’t turn the horses out today, so I said, ‘We might as well laugh about it.’”

About a foot of water flooded portions of Claddagh Farm on Thursday. Charette, who has owned the farm for 12 years, has never seen conditions so bad.

A video shows her using a shovel to paddle her vessel as she jokingly says, it’s “time to feed the horses.”

“There actually weren’t horses out in the water,” she said. “It’s just a common phrase that equestrians or farm workers have. We have to go out in all types of weather to make sure that the horses are always fed. In a blizzard, it doesn’t matter. We can’t stay home, so we always say, ‘Time to feed the horses.’”

Charette said none of the horses were injured during the storm.

“They are safe and warm and comfy in their stalls,” she said. “Unfortunately, we’re not able to turn the horses out for a couple of days until the water goes down and the fields are dry.”

At least 46 people died after the remnants of Ida swept across the northeast, leading to surging rivers, high winds and torrential rainfall.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.