Employees of a rafting guide company in Farmington, New Mexico, put their rescue skills to work after devastating floods left animals stranded across the community.
Here's what to know
According to Outside, Desert River Guides typically offers guided rafting trips along the Animas and San Juan rivers. The company belongs to Ryan Dudgeon and her husband, Cody Dudgeon, both longtime local residents.
When devastating floods struck the Four Corners region of the U.S. in late October, Ryan and her fellow guides searched flooded neighborhoods for animals left behind during evacuations.
Establishing an emergency animal shelter in the company warehouse, the crew took to the flooded roadways by boat, rescuing stranded pets and other animals.
Their rescue efforts sometimes extended to people, whom the team helped float out of flooded areas. The Dudgeons saved dozens of pets and livestock. Volunteers contributed however they were able, bringing rafting gear, drysuits, and swiftwater rescue skills to the effort.
Meanwhile, Farmington's city government and its Regional Animal Shelter worked with the Dudgeons to transform Desert River Guides' warehouse into a temporary rescue shelter, giving the rescued animals someplace safe to go until they could be reunited with their humans.
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Dudgeon anticipated that the makeshift shelter would need to remain in operation for a number of weeks, as residents continued to find their displaced pets.
More background
For the Dudgeons, who had lived in Farmington all their lives, the disaster was unlike anything they had ever experienced. The flooding devastated communities across the Four Corners region, displacing thousands of people and destroying many homes.
Watching her own home succumb to the flood waters motivated Ryan Dudgeon to do whatever she could to help others in the community, she told Outside.
The surge of floodwaters was indeed on a historic scale. According to Outside, San Juan River usually flows at around 500 cubic feet per second during the Dudgeons' rafting trips, but its flood peak in Farmington reached 33,500 cubic feet per second, nearly 70 times the typical flow.
Similarly, the Animas River, which typically runs at 1,000 to 4,000 cubic feet per second, reached a flood peak of 12,000 cubic feet per second.
In Bloomfield, Shiprock, and the Navajo Nation, homes were swept off their foundations or submerged to their rooflines, Outside reported. Flooded sewage treatment plants further contaminated surrounding waterways.
"It was just the most incredible community involvement, and I will never be able to thank these people enough," Ryan said.
Where can I learn more?
Like the volunteers in Farmington, rescuers elsewhere have helped people and animals reach safety in times of urgent need.
• Rescuers found three flood-swept kittens covered in mud and ash in Utah.
• In Florida, the Red Cross and Jefferson County offered free emergency shelter training during hurricane season.
• Neighbors in New Mexico helped save frogs and turtles from being buried alive.
• A phone's SOS text helped rescuers in Arizona locate a stranded driver and dog in monsoon mud.
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