In the week leading up to Tropical Storm Debby, Dorchester Paws staff received increasingly concerning emails from their local emergency services. As the incoming storm intensified, the threat of a flash flood loomed over the shelter’s county.

Braving the potentially-historic storm with hundreds of animals would be a difficult task on its own. But with their 52-year-old building located directly in a flood zone, Dorchester Paws had a difficult decision to make.

“By 5 p.m. on Saturday evening, I alerted our leadership team that we needed to evacuate,” Howard told The Dodo.

The staff posted a call-to-action for their community on Facebook, begging for temporary homes for the over 300 helpless pets at the shelter. They were shocked by the community’s quick response.

“The moment we posted on Facebook that we would be evacuating, the applications started rolling in,” Howard said. “By the time we began evacuations, we had 500 applications waiting. It was extraordinary. The line was all the way down our lane and out onto the highway for at least [half] a mile.”

You can see photos from that day here:

Folks lined up and patiently waited as staff matched each of their residents with the best foster family. One tiny pup, Minnie, already had a permanent home and was only visiting Dorchester Paws for a short time while her mom was in the hospital. When it came time to evacuate, Minnie’s mom worried for her baby’s safety.

“She knew she wasn’t going to make it out before the storm hit and asked us to make sure her sweet Minnie made it to a foster home,” Howard said. “We had a lady in line who was the perfect fit to watch over Minnie for the storm, and we made her aware of Minnie’s situation. The foster sent us videos and updates every day, so her mom knew she was being loved and safe.”

But Minnie wasn’t the only pup to find an amazing foster home. Within two days of posting their plea on social media, Dorchester Paws’ kennels were completely emptied, with every last pet finding a loving foster family to brave the storm with.

The staff at Dorchester Paws were relieved to have successfully evacuated all the animals before the storm, which caused some damage and significant flooding to the property, hit.

You can watch their celebrations here:

The team quickly got to work on restoring the property to working condition. Then, the adoption applications started rolling in.

“As of last night, we have had 30 animals become permanent members of their foster homes!” Howard said. “We are still making calls and expect that number to continue to grow.”

Now that the storm has passed, the remaining shelter pets are making their way back to Dorchester Paws’ headquarters — but they’re hoping to find forever families soon. In the meantime, they have an extraordinary group of caregivers who refuse to give up on them, come what may.

“Dorchester Paws has the most amazing team of staff and volunteers that pours every ounce of love and care into the animals we receive, despite the current location and building we’re in,” Howard said.