Hurricane Dorian: Woman in Bahamas Saved 97 Dogs Ahead of Landfall

A Bahamanian woman who operates a dog shelter said she rescued 97 dogs by moving them into her home before Hurricane Dorian made landfall on Sunday.

Chella Phillips, who runs “The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas” in New Providence, shared pictures on Facebook of dozens of pups packed into her various rooms throughout her home.

“[Ninety-seven] dogs are inside my house and 79 of them are inside my master bedroom,” Phillips wrote. “It has been insane since last night, poop and piss non-stop but at least they are respecting my bed and nobody has dared to jump in.”

“Each island has an abundance of homeless dogs, my heart is so broken for the ones without a place to hide a CAT 5 monster and only God can protect them now,” she added.

The dog shelter operator said has cared for roughly 1000 pups since her organization launched in 2015.

“The dogs get vetted, vaccinated and from there they come to live at my refuge until I am able to find a rescue willing to help me with them in the States,” the organization’s Facebook page reads. “Countless homeless dogs have left the streets of Nassau and they are now enjoying life being loved and cared by their families.”

Hurricane Dorian unleashed massive flooding across the Bahamas on Monday, pummeling the islands with so much wind and water that authorities urged people to find floatation devices and grab hammers to break out of their attics if necessary.

The fearsome Category 4 storm slowed almost to a standstill as it shredded roofs, hurled cars and forced even rescue crews to take shelter until the onslaught passed.

Officials said they received a “tremendous” number of calls from people in flooded homes. A radio station received more than 2,000 distress messages, including reports of a 5-month-old baby stranded on a roof and a grandmother with six grandchildren who cut a hole in a roof to escape rising floodwaters.

Forecasters warned that Dorian could generate a storm surge as high as 23 feet.

An eight-year-old boy is the first reported first death from the storm, according to two Bahamas-based news outlets.

Eyewitness News and Bahamas Press reported that the boy died as hurricane battered the island. Ingrid McIntosh, the victim’s grandmother, told Eyewitness News that her grandson died on Abaco island and that his body was found.

“I just saw my grandson about two days ago,” said McIntosh. “He told me he loved me. He was going back to Abaco, he turned around and said, ‘Grandma, I love you.’”

An advisory from the hurricane center warned that Florida’s east-central coast could see a brief tornado sometime Monday afternoon or evening.

A mandatory evacuation of entire South Carolina coast took effect Monday covering about 830,000 people.

Transportation officials reversed all lanes of Interstate 26 from Charleston to head inland earlier than planned after noticing traffic jams from evacuees and vacationers heading home on Labor Day, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said.

“We can’t make everybody happy, but we believe we can keep everyone alive,” the governor said.

A few hours later, Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, ordered mandatory evacuations for that state’s Atlantic coast, also starting at midday Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.