To all South Florida residents affected by Hurricane Irma, some relief is headed your way via Anheuser-Busch. The beer giant isn't sending ice-cold Buds, but 310,000 cans of drinking water produced by the brewing company in one of its facilities in Georgia.
Irma's eye made landfall sometime after 9 a.m. on Sunday morning in Cudjoe Key, according to the National Hurricane Center, and then again at Marco Island near Naples shortly after 3:30 p.m. The outer bands of Irma pounded Miami, knocking down power lines and trees in Sunny Isles Beach, flooding Brickell, and leaving millions in the state without electricity.
Boil water alerts were issued in several cities in Broward County, including Davie, Hallandale, Hollywood, Lauderhill, Miramar, Wilton Manors, and some unincorporated parts of the county.
The Anheuser-Busch cans of drinking water arrived in Fort Pierce, Orlando and Sarasota on September 8 and will be distributed by the American Red Cross to those communities most affected by Irma's impact, according to a statement issued by the brewery.
There are dozens of shelter locations in Miami operated by the Red Cross and partner agencies. For a complete list, visit the nonprofit's online shelter map or download the app.
Anheuser-Busch’s Cartersville Brewery in Georgia halted beer production on Labor Day and switched to water production prepare for the hurricane's impacts.
Bill Bradley, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president for community affairs, said the water was distributed with local distributors, including Southern Eagle Distributing, City Beverages, and Gold Coast Eagle Distributing.
The Cartersville Brewery also stopped beer production and provided 800,000 cans of drinking water following Hurricane Harvey after it made landfall in Southern Texas on August 25.
Anheuser-Busch and its Cartersville, Georgia brewery has has a track record of chipping in and coming to aid domestic natural disaster relief efforts, also providing canned water to flood victims in Baton Rouge last year and to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"Providing safe, clean drinking water is the best way we can help in these situations," says Bill Bradley, Anheuser-Busch’s Vice President for Community Affairs.