The severe rains of late summer and early autumn have caused major flooding along the eastern coast of the United States, forcing many people to flee their homes for higher ground. Conway, South Carolina, was hit hard by the flooding, but amid the panic and uncertainty, a beautiful new friendship was born.
People wade through the rising waters, carrying what belongings they can as they evacuate.
Alex Scroggins was in Conway, SC, helping a family gather belongings when he spied a dog on a neighbor’s porch. As the waters were rising and people were rushing around, the dog was understandably frightened. But Scroggins assumed that the dog’s owners were nearby. After all, who would leave a dog trapped in a flood?
Well, someone did. When the dog remained on the flooded porch, Scroggins finally asked someone what was going on. It turns out the dog’s owner had left a few days prior — and left the dog behind.
On learning that the dog had been so callously abandoned, Scroggins decided to step in. “I approached him, and he was skittish at first, since his owner had left him high and dry,” he recalls. “After I put my hand out and let him get used to me, he calmed down and I pet him.”
“We scooped him up and took him to safety on the boat,” Scroggins said. “He was almost without a dry place to stand by the time I found him. That dog was going to be swept out.”
With the dog loaded up into the boat, he could be safely transported away from the flood. You can see him here peeking out from behind the couch.
After getting to safety, Scroggins tried to find a no-kill shelter for the dog, but they were all full. Not only that, but the dog refused to leave his side. He named the pup Lucky.
He also learned that the original owner had no interest in getting the dog back, and that the Humane Society had been called in on this person for negligence before.
(via The Dodo)
So that’s how Scroggins ended up with the dog, who he’s since named Lucky. He hadn’t planned on getting a dog, but he’s okay with how things have turned out. “I feel like [Lucky] understands what happened, ’cause now he refuses to leave my side,” he says. “It makes me feel better knowing the dog is in a better place than he was. If you see someone in need of help and you can do something, then do something — that goes for people and animals. If you can help out, try. That’s what I hope people take away from this.”
