Gregory, our President, and Nikki, our Adoptions Director (pictured here with a rescued dog) are now in Tylertown, Mississippi working at the sanctuary which is serving as Best Friends headquarters.
And while, thankfully, it looks like the sanctuary will be on the extreme outer edge of Hurricane Rita, the volunteers there have nevertheless been busy "battening down the hatches." It's raining today, and winds are gusting up to 30 mph, and the full force of the storm won't arrive until tomorrow.
They want to be sure everyone there, including the pets of course, weathers the storm. The team has staked in
all of the cages and tightened everything down. Five hundred
igloos were delivered so the dogs will be able to keep out of the rain and wind.
So it looks like everyone will be okay. And it makes us feel even better that two volunteers named Peggy and Melanie just arrived in Tylertown.... why is their presence a comfort? Well, they are storm-chasing, nationally-recognized "severe weather experts" who call themselves the Twister Sisters. They know tornadoes and hurricanes inside and out, and have been using their expertise and equipment to provide the sanctuary staff updates on the storm's progress every 15 minutes.
In short, everyone is as prepared as they can be, and we are hopeful that the sanctuary will come through unscathed.
Sadly, it looks like there is more significant flooding in New Orleans, particularly in the parishes where the Best Friends rescuers have been working. Once the storm passes, there will undoubtedly be much work to be done.
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