Nature and decrepit infrastructure have hammered Mississippi over the past year.
Jackson’s struggle to get clean water to its two- and four-legged residents persists nine months after record flooding crippled its aging treatment plant. This week, 14 tornadoes ripped swaths of destruction through much of the state including underserved towns like Amory and Rolling Fork.
At press time, two dozen people have been killed and entire communities leveled by this week’s twisters that also wound deep into Alabama. Yet, hope has shined through the heartbreak and piles of debris.
When the shuddering beams at the Amory Humane Society settled, shelter workers were amazed to find that all its residents had survived.
“Several of the kennels got hit pretty hard,” Misty Daniels, AHS Director, told ABC News. “Once we found out they were okay, I was okay.”
Daniels reported that ASPCA has partnered with AHS to gather and provide safe haven for displaces animals. Field teams are distributing food, water and other supplies and providing emotional support for residents and their beloved pets.
“It’s been very humbling,” Daniels continued. “People all around have stepped up. People I don’t know coming in to support us, to help us and help the community. It’s been a, hopefully, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Animals have found temporary shelter with local veterinarians and nearby county humane societies pending reunion with their forever humans. Daniels looks forward toward a future of “rebuilding and starting fresh and continuing with our transports and saving lives.”
Alex Frisbee, board member of South Delta Animal Rescue in Rolling Fork, recounted the night the shelter was destroyed.
“It was just completely flattened,” Frisbee told Fox Weather Channel. “We didn’t even recognize where we were . . . It was complete devastation. We didn’t have a whole lot of hope that we were going to find any [dogs] alive.” To his crew’s amazement, all eight dogs housed at the shelter were found “alive and well.” A temporary shelter has been set up at the Sharkey Issaquena Academy.
Extensive efforts have been made to reunite dogs with their owners, in some cases, successfully. In other instances, “We don’t know if their owner survived the storm. It’s most likely that their home didn’t.” Frisbee commends community members for helping to identify some of the dogs.
South Delta has launched a GoFundMe campaign and added a PayPal button to its Facebook page to facilitate donations.
People in neighboring counties and states have gathered at Rolling Fork and other locations to conduct on-foot searches for animal and human survivors. Covering large areas by car is difficult at best because so many roads are impassable. Successful finds include two injured adult dogs, a loose horse and a pack of three-month-old puppies behind a truck whose trailer had overturned. A litter of kittens who’d lost their mother was found nestled in a tire’s hollow.
Apparently, not even nature’s howl can hold Mississippians down.