May 29, 2015
Lawrence Jackson/AP
Bottles of Budweiser and Stella Artois beer are seen on display at Dixie Liquors in Washington.
Anheuser-Busch halted beer production at its Cartersville brewery in Georgia this week in an effort to aid victims of storms and flooding in Texas and Oklahoma, NBC News reports.
The company said it had stopped production late Wednesday night to produce 50,000 cans of water for the American Red Cross.
"Right now our production line is running emergency drinking water instead of beer," Cartersville brewery manager Rob Haas told NBC News. "It's something we're uniquely positioned to do in a very timely period."
The Cartersville brewery produces cans of emergency relief water a few times a year, Haas said, partnering with the American Red Cross to provide to places in need within the United States.
Hundreds of people fled areas near Texas rivers that overflowed their banks on Thursday as the state reeled from severe storms this week that killed at least 17 people, flooded cities and set a record for the wettest month.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch stretching from south of San Antonio to Dallas, through Oklahoma, where severe weather this week killed an additional six people, and into Kansas.
Thunderstorms pelted large parts of the affected region. Teams worked overnight to rescue people affected by the flood waters.
Anheuser-Busch makes several major brands including, Budweiser, Michelob ULTRA, Beck's, Kirin and O'Doul's.
Anheuser-Busch halts beer production to provide water for Texas, Oklahoma storm victims http://t.co/ZUh1SAYBXy pic.twitter.com/HplOflo9tA
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 29, 2015
Reuters contributed to this report.
