Dog abandoned during emergency evacuation found alive in washer smartly surviving Texas floods
In the ongoing deadly Texas storm, a dog miraculously survived a whole night in the washing machine of a house submerged in the destructive floods. According to People, a family who lost everything to the disaster shared how their dog braved the storm after he was abandoned in the flooded house. Excessive rainfall in Kerr County turned the Guadalupe River into a deadly torrent overnight. The rising river water levels have caused at least 132 casualties as of July 15.
On the night of July 4, in Hunt, Texas, Cody Vlasek’s family was sleeping peacefully when the Guadalupe River suddenly flooded their house with waist-deep water. While everyone in the family was asleep, Vlasek’s mother, Denise, was the first one to realize that an ominous situation had surrounded their home. In no time, she woke everyone up to evacuate the submerged house immediately. Rushing family members had to rush out urgently, abandoning the dog who might have been under water, given that the water levels had reached Vlasek’s waist. One must imagine such dire situations as traumatizing. Leaving a pet behind is hard, but leaving them in the clutches of a natural disaster is exponentially harder — something the Vlasek family had to do in order to ensure their own survival first.
The terrified Vlasek family left everything behind and rushed to a neighbor’s house uphill. After four days, the situation seemed normal, and the family drove back to look at their now ruined home. Cody informed San Antonio affiliate station KENS 5 that the river was just 20-30 meters away from their back fence, and it was quickly filling up the house. "The current — it almost tripped some of us," he said, according to People. The living room was destroyed, with all the chairs and couches damaged. As Cody stepped to inspect the back fence area, he had to enter it by breaking the window and climbing through it. In the aftermath of destruction, there lay a washing machine making weird noises. The moment Cody took a look at the washer, he found his dog scooching in it, having survived the evil storm most oddly.
During disasters, evacuating with one’s pets is every owner's top priority. However, in America, finding shelters that would take in animals rescued from catastrophic disasters is difficult. A study titled "Evacuation of Pets During Disasters: A Public Health Intervention to Increase Resilience" by the NIH mentioned that many emergency teams advise leaving pets behind when evacuating during a crisis. In 2008, when Chile was hit with volcanic eruptions, the evacuation of dogs was prohibited alongside their owners. This intervention was only allowed when international media criticized the government’s blatant disregard for pets' welfare.
According to the study, the American Red Cross Society does not allow pets for “health and safety concerns, among other considerations.” Many animal shelters in the country have raised this alarming issue of leaving companion animals behind during disasters, and the inadequacy of the government in protecting them. The reason cited is that the spread of Zoonotic disease in abandoned animals may affect humans. However, the study claims that proper planning with emergency management groups can provide a solution to this recurring problem. In this instance, Cody’s dog was relatively smart and was fortunately found safe in the washer. However, proper management planning to prevent the loss of pets in the country during disasters is need of the hour.