As Hurricane Florence swept across the Carolinas in September 2018, rising floodwaters turned familiar neighborhoods into dangerous stretches of water. In Leland, North Carolina, six dogs were trapped inside an outdoor cage with no way to escape as the water continued to rise around them. They barked desperately and stood on their hind legs against the metal bars, trying to get someone’s attention before it was too late.

Three calls for rescue. Team I’m with now beginning USAR ops in the Murrayville neighborhood of Wilmington https://t.co/PqWWa65n1E

— Marcus J. DiPaola (@marcusdipaola) September 16, 2018

The dogs had little room to move, and the water was climbing dangerously high. When Ryan Nichols and his friend David Rebollar were helping people stranded near a local church, they heard barking nearby and went to investigate. What they found was a group of frightened animals confined in a cage that was rapidly filling with floodwater.

Journalist Marcus DiPaola, who was guiding them through the area, recorded what happened next. The rescuers knew the dogs could not remain where they were. They needed to open the cage and get all six animals to higher ground, but the floodwater had already made the situation extremely dangerous. There was no time to waste.

VIDEO: Six Dogs Trapped by Hurricane Florence Are Freed as Floodwaters Rise

The Water Was Getting Too High for the Dogs to Survive

When Nichols and Rebollar reached the cage, the dogs were wet, frightened, and eager for help. Some stood upright against the bars, barking and reaching toward the rescuers. Their movements made the urgency of the situation clear: they had no way to free themselves from the enclosure.

The men worked to release them while DiPaola filmed the rescue. Once the cage was opened, the dogs rushed out into the floodwater. Rather than simply stepping onto dry ground, they had to swim, keeping their heads above the water as they made their way away from the enclosure.

It was a frightening sight. The water surrounded their bodies, and they had to keep moving to reach somewhere safer. But all six dogs made it out of the cage and began swimming toward higher ground.

Nichols later described the animals as wet and hungry, but also very happy to see their rescuers. Despite the fear and confusion of the moment, they were able to leave the enclosure behind.

The men knew how close the dogs had come to disaster. DiPaola later explained that the water was so high by the time they left that the animals would have drowned had they remained locked inside.

Rescued six dogs in Leland, NC, after the owner LEFT THEM locked in an outdoor cage that filled with flood water that was rapidly rising.

We got them out, but by the time we left, the water was so high that they would have drowned. BRING YOUR PETS WITH YOU! #HurricaneFlorence https://t.co/tRibGxCjXy

— Marcus J. DiPaola (@marcusdipaola) September 16, 2018

A Difficult Situation Behind the Locked Cage

After escaping the enclosure, the dogs reached the backyard of their owner’s house, which stood on higher ground. There was food available there, giving the animals somewhere safer to stay after their frightening escape from the rising water.

The circumstances that had left them locked in the cage were not entirely clear. According to a neighbor who spoke with the rescuers, the owners were a family with children who may have experienced a medical emergency and fled as the flooding worsened. Whatever the circumstances, the dogs had been left in a position where they could not escape the rising water on their own.

For Nichols and Rebollar, the rescue was part of a broader effort to help people and animals affected by the hurricane. The two Texas natives had begun helping with disaster rescues after Hurricane Harvey struck their home state the previous year. That experience had encouraged them to continue this work when future storms placed others in danger.

Nichols later said they hoped to organize larger teams for future disasters, allowing them to help more people and animals when emergencies struck.

A Rescue That Reminded People Not to Leave Animals Behind

Footage of the six dogs swimming away from the cage spread widely online, drawing attention to the danger faced by animals during natural disasters. For viewers, the sight of the dogs struggling through the floodwater made the consequences of leaving pets in confined spaces impossible to ignore.

The rescue also took place amid a wider effort to move animals away from Florence’s path. Volunteers and animal rescue groups worked together to evacuate shelter animals, find temporary homes, and make room for pets displaced by the storm. Tennessee trucker Tony Alsup, for example, used a large bus to transport dozens of dogs and cats from shelters threatened by the hurricane.

“In a disaster, an animal’s safety often depends on whether someone remembers that it cannot open the gate and escape on its own.”

Meet Robert Simmons. Was stuck in his house since last night, when floodwaters began to rise in New Bern. A boat came and rescued him just now. He was sad to leave his father but left with his kitten hugging his neck. Cat’s name: Survivor, Simmons said. #HurricaneFlorence2018 https://t.co/vRR3lANDJe

— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) September 14, 2018

For the six dogs in Leland, Nichols and Rebollar’s decision to investigate the barking gave them a chance to survive. They had been trapped as the water rose, with no way to reach safety without help. Once the cage was opened, they could finally swim away from the danger and reach higher ground.

Their rescue became a powerful reminder that when floodwaters rise, animals need a safe way out just as much as the people who care for them.