As the brunt of Hurricane Ida’s 150 mph winds and driving rain zeroed in on New Orleans on Aug. 29, most of those who stayed in the city were hunkered down at home with family and friends. Leslie Chamberlain, however, chose to hunker down with about 20 dogs and 40 cats at Animal Rescue New Orleans.
Chamberlain, a staffer at ARNO, along with volunteer Camille Deller, rode out the frightening hours of the main storm and then spent the night with their furry charges.
“At one point, we could see the drop-tile ceiling moving up and down from the wind,” she said. “We looked out the window and could see the gusts of wind — it was ... oh my God.
“It was really bad for five or six hours. They told us the brunt would be from 3 or 4 o’clock until 5 or 6, but it was actually until 8 or 9.”
Chamberlain had left her husband home alone in order to tend to the animals. “He understood why, but wasn’t very happy about it,” she said. “He would have rathered me stay home with him, knowing I was within eyesight and safe. (But) that’s who I am. If Camille and I didn’t do it, who would?”
'ARNO is a really scrappy grassroots organization,' says director Kathy Perra.
As ARNO Director Kathy Perra said, “We could never leave animals alone. That’s our philosophy.”
An important coincidence was working in Deller and Chamberlain’s favor during the dangerous time. They were setting up camp not at ARNO’s shelter on Plauche Street in Harahan, but in a much sturdier brick building nearby, across Jefferson Highway.
Perra said ARNO purchased it about six months ago to turn it into a new and better home. She’s planning a capital campaign to renovate the former office building to suit the needs of an animal rescue. The Plauche Street building, Perra said, is a metal warehouse with a roll-down door and no central air and heat. “It floods regularly,” she added.
The new building served well.
“It was pretty loud,” Chamberlain said of the storm winds, “but mainly when we were near doors and windows. The brick kept it all muffled. We didn’t hear as much as we thought we would.”
During Hurrican Ida, dogs were given their favorite toys to help them stay calm, but were kept separate from cats.
Throughout the hours of raging wind and rain, the two women continued efforts to comfort the animals. Dogs were taken from kennels every few hours and into another room where they could run around. Cats were in a separate room.
“Thankfully we had an area indoors where we could take them out,” Chamberlain said.
In between, “We were camped out near the front door so we could watch everything go by; we were talking and reading, watching wind and rain come through.”
The Greater New Orleans Foundation has raised more than $2 million to help struggling residents after Hurricane Ida walloped the region.
Getting there
The regular volunteer crew had arrived at Plauche Street about 6 p.m. the night before the storm, as they do every night, to walk dogs and tend to the cats.
“ARNO is a really scrappy grassroots organization, and our volunteers come in and get dirty, walk dogs, clean the facility to give best possible life until we can get them adopted,” Perra noted.
But there was an extra step this night: After the work was done, they drove the remaining animals — many already had been sent to foster homes — to the new facility, where a generator was ready to be cranked up. One staffer stayed Aug. 28.
Sunshine and clear weather make for a happy dog at ARNO.
At 7 a.m. Aug. 29, volunteers returned for the routine animal care. Chamberlain arrived about noon, as rainshowers were just beginning.
“As soon as we got there, we made sure the dogs were comfortable. We were giving all dogs meds to keep them calm. Sometimes dogs have storm anxiety, and knowing it was a Cat 4, we wanted to calm them as much as we could,” Chamberlain said. (Cats had a hormone-based product to help them stay calm.)
“We were trying to exercise them in the building to get them nice and tired.”
DALLAS — In the morning hours of Aug. 26, Tropical Depression No. 9 was an afterthought.
The winds might have become loud and wild, but the animals did not.
Following the long night, the generator went out on the morning of Aug. 30. Downed trees and power lines made the area hard to access, but that afternoon, more volunteers arrived to walk dogs and otherwise care for the animals. By night, the generator was repaired.
On Tuesday morning, the pet exodus took place in reverse, with volunteers returning the animals to Plauche Street.
The aftermath
The new building, where Perra hopes to have central air and a natural gas generator, survived intact. The old facility had some damage but no flooding. “I don’t know how it’s still standing; there are holes in it, a drafty old place,” Perra said.
Some damage occurred in the fences for the play yard, shown here.
Now, all are back at that Plauche Street site, which does have some advantages.
“The old location, being open air, is more conducive to having generators there … and the animals are back to where they’re familiar and comfortable,” Perra said.
What they need
More help is still needed for ARNO to cope with the crisis. Four more generators have been donated, but gas is needed to run them.
Since laundry can’t be done, more sheets and towels are needed for cages as well as fans; large, heavy trash bags; mops; and bleach.
People, too: “We have the most amazing volunteer force in the world,” Perra said, “but especially with many people still out of town, volunteers are needed.”
Email animalrescueneworleans.org or volunteer@animalrescue.org for more information.
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