MIAMI — A South Florida shelter was able to place all 160 of its dogs in safe homes ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall, which resulted in flooding across the state.
Stefania Bada and other volunteers at Miami's Medley Animal Services began posting on the One Dog at a Time Instagram page less than a week ago asking for willing fosters to take in the pets as the storm swelled. The page offered crates, food and anything else the dogs would need in exchange for the animals to spend just five days with the foster parents if the human didn't want to keep them for longer.
Though the shelter volunteers did their best to keep the pets dry earlier this week, Bada explained that the majority of the structure is outdoors and not enclosed. She said since most of the outer walls are just screens, intense flooding even occurs when there's rain only for an hour or two, not to mention a hurricane's flood levels.
One video One Dog at a Time posted showed the Medley shelter after one rainstorm, with floodwater inches high in the area where dogs typically reside in cages.
Speaking to "Good Morning America," Bada said she and other volunteers had hoped their various posts would inspire enough fosters to take in at least 50 of the dogs. But after about a day of receiving around 100 messages every 30 minutes, Bada said, all 160 were gone from the shelter and in safe and warm homes.
"I honestly did not think that it was going to turn out the way it did. Miami showed up," Bada told "GMA."
"This has been an unprecedented response from the community to come and pull our pets into safety during the storm," said Annette Jose, director of Miami-Dade County Animal Services.
Bada said on TikTok that there has been a total of 280 Miami-Dade Animal Services dogs placed in foster homes during the past couple of days because of the hurricane. In a post on One Dog at a Time, which she runs with two other volunteers, Bada thanked those who stepped up and pushed others to continue clearing shelters in times of emergency.
"This act of kindness demonstrates the power of community, as residents unite to protect vulnerable animals from the chaos of the storm, ensuring they are cared for in safe, loving environments until they can be reunited with their families or adopted," the post read. "It highlights the importance of collaboration during natural disasters and fosters a sense of togetherness and hope amidst challenging times."
At least 16 people have died since Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key on Wednesday night. It then moved toward the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, leaving more than 2 million customers still without power going into the weekend.
There are tens of thousands of people still on the ground trying to deal with the storm's aftermath, like clean-ups and restoring power. The White House said 1,000 federal crew members are joining them and will be there "as long as it takes."
