In September 2018, in the wake of Hurricane Florence, HSMO’s Disaster Response Team spent a week in North Carolina performing animal rescue operations on the ground and in the water.
Soshe a young Maltese has made the news as one of the greatest Florence Hurricane Survivors. A hurried last-minute exit from Burgaw, North Carolina saw the young pup left in the vulnerable neighborhood by her family. The family, fearing for her life, called The Pender county animal rescue office seeking a team to check out the neighborhood for her. With the high waters, the possibility of spotting one dog in the flooded neighborhood was extremely low.
The family managed to get in touch with a rescue team from HSMO led by Chad Gard. The team was dedicated to visiting accessible neighborhoods to extract any survivors including cats and horses. With only roofs visible, locating Soshe’s house was a difficult task even for the dedicated team. Daily frantic calls from the family were met with the same answer ” the whole neighborhood is under water.” However, the search bore fruit when the team was finally able to trace Soshe’s house from the flooded neighborhood.
The team moving on a boat was met by so many hurdles including a broken Mortar which saw them paddle through the neighborhood to a house that matched the description given by the family. They determined the exact home using a partially visible house number covered by over 5 feet of water. The team had to swim and wade through the high waters towards the house.
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