Flood disaster tips
July 11th, 2019
When a flood threatens, RedRover encourages residents to bring their pets with them when they evacuate. Animals left behind during floods can become injured, fall ill, starve, drown from flooding, die, and hamper human evacuation and rescue efforts.
Families threatened by flooding are encouraged to:
- Bring their pets when they evacuate. Never leave pets behind to fend for themselves in a flood.
- Identify a place ahead of time to evacuate with pets. Many hotels and motels are pet-friendly, and those that aren’t often make exceptions during natural disasters. A database of pet-friendly accommodations is available at petswelcome.com or petfriendlyhotelsandtravel.com.
- Identify all pets. Affix a collar with ID tag containing mobile phone number or temporary contact number (such as the phone number of a hotel or relative) to each pet so they can be more easily reunited if lost.
- Assemble an animal disaster kit that includes:
- One-week supply of food and water
- Medications
- Copies of vaccination records
- A leash or cat carrier for each pet
- Pet first aid kit
- Photos of each animal with family members to prove ownership if they are lost
Other flood safety resources:
Find more disaster tips at RedRover.org/disastertips
“For both human and animal safety, people should never their pets behind when disaster strikes,” says RedRover president and CEO Nicole Forsyth. “Animals left to fend for themselves during floods or other catastrophes suffer terribly, and evacuees can compound their own stress by worrying about the pets they left at home.”
