Anheuser-Busch pauses beer production to send water to Harvey victims

Beer production was halted at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Cartersville, Georgia on Monday and trucks were sent out with emergency deliveries — truckloads of clean drinking water for Hurricane Harvey victims.

The first shipment arrived at the American Red Cross in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Monday, and two more shipments were sent to Arlington, Texas.

The cans of water — more than 155,000 of them in total — were sent courtesy of the Anheuser-Busch emergency drinking water program. “Putting our production and logistics strengths to work by providing safe, clean drinking water is the best way we can help in these situations,” Bill Bradley, Anheuser-Busch’s Vice President for Community Affairs, said in a statement.

According to the statement, the brewery in Cartersville halts production as needed to prepare drinking water to help with community relief efforts.

Anheuser-Busch says it has provided over 76 million cans of clean emergency drinking water during disasters since 1988. In 2016 alone, the company sent water to Flint, Michigan, California communities plagued by wildfires, and victims of Hurricane Matthew.

Harvey has caused widespread flooding affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Houston, Texas and surrounding areas. The storm has dumped unprecedented rainfall on the city for four consecutive days, and the worst may be yet to come.