Dogs emerged out of vans in front of Best Friends Animal Society after a 14-hour drive. They were among 10 dogs saved from Pinellas County, Florida, where a shelter near Clearwater lost power and flooded from Hurricane Milton.

“We really need to get pets out of affected areas because a lot of the shelters experienced no electricity because all of their supplies ran out or were ruined,” Alina Hauptman, senior manager of public relations at Best Friends Animal Society, said.

What You Need To Know

  • Best Friends Animal Society organized a transport of dogs and cats out of areas affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton

  • Con Edison crews from New York and Rockland and Orange Utilities are on the ground in Florida
  • New York City business owner Marc Aschoff of Tribeca Beverage Company has a warehouse in Tampa

  • The American Red Cross has crews providing food, supplies and medical assistance in Florida

Best Friends Animal Society in Manhattan organized the transfer to get the dogs and 20 cats from different counties in Georgia impacted by Hurricane Helene.

“Our transport went from Florida through Atlanta and they drove through the night to get to our best friends’ lifesaving center this morning,” Hauptman said.

The dogs are going to adoption centers in Boston, but the cats are up for adoption in Manhattan.

“Get out, adopt and foster,” Hauptman said.

Besides getting animals out of harm’s way, Con Edison crews from New York and Rockland and Orange Utilities headed to Florida to help restore power. The hurricane caused outages for around 3 million customers.

The American Red Cross says it has 60 people from the New York area on the ground in Florida. Their total response force is around 700, providing food supplies and health support to victims of the storm.

“It’s incredibly stressful and frustrating,” Marc Aschoff, co-owner of Tribeca Beverage Company, said.

Aschoff has a water delivery company in Tampa with a warehouse there as well. He is staying with family in New Jersey. He shut the business down for the storm. His full-time employees evacuated, and he doesn’t know if his warehouse was damaged.

“A lot, at the moment, is unknown: how long roads will be closed down and how long our customer base will be displaced from their homes, our ability to deliver even in the short term,” Aschoff said.

Aschoff said he is happy his workers are okay and hopes all his customers are safe too.

Best Friends Animal Society is waving adoption fees until Sunday for people adopting cats from affected areas.

Editor’s note: Aschoff is a family member of a very close friend to Justine Re.

Luke Parsnow - New York State Politics Digital Content Producer

Luke Parsnow is the New York state politics digital content writer and producer at Spectrum News 1. He is an award-winning writer and political columnist and previously worked for CNYCentral in Syracuse and The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York.