BRUCE, Fla. (WMBB) — Hurricane Sally delivered so much rainfall across the southeast that river rises days after landfall have swamped roads and collapsed bridges, leaving some neighborhoods trapped in-between.
Animal rescue groups have teamed up to assist families and their pets who may be stranded in their homes and low on supplies.
Jonathan Henriques with Rescue Alliance based out of Louisiana, said they have entered the Panhandle to deliver pet food to families. Not only delivering food, he said, but rescuing pets that evacuated families may not be able to get back to due to submerged roadways around the flooding rivers.
“We’re staging it to where we have actually left notices where people could find their pets, the ones that were in danger. So we have actually left that and we are basically making to where they can reclaim their pets.”
Henriques said that any family in need of assistance can call 225-279-2223 or visit their Facebook page here. He added that a third animal rescue group called Southern Paws Inc. has been assisting in animal recovery as well.
Teaming up with the two groups is a West Virginia based team called Animal Disaster Relief Coalition, founded by Brandon Riffe. He said they come into these disaster zones prepared.
“We have two boats, two members with two boats, so if they are in flooded waters we can take whatever supplies we need on the boats to them,” he said.
Riffe said it is important to follow local official suggestions when advised to evacuate, and with pets if possible, as it puts rescue groups in danger every time they enter storm damage to retrieve pets.
Riffe added that families can request assistance evacuating their animals pre-storm by reaching out to them via their Facebook pages messenger here.
