iStockphoto / Smart/Avery Humane Society/FB
Hurricane Helene caused unimaginable destruction throughout the Southeast and took the lives of 252 Americans, that we know of, as it barreled through Florida and into Appalachia in September of last year. It would become the 4th costliest tropical cyclone in recorded history causing an estimated $78.7 billion in damage, and it was the single costliest storm in North Carolina history.
Many people lost their homes, cars, family heirlooms, and more. Country houses that had passed through generations were washed away in the torrential flood waters. And many folks lost their livestock and pets to the flash flooding as well.
One family that lost their cat has a reason to sleep easier at night now: they have been reunited after 443 days.
Pet Cat Reunited With Family After Going Missing In Hurricane Helene
The Avery Humane Society in Newland, North Carolina announced the reunion earlier this month. It was all made possible because Gabby, the cat who had been displaced from her family in Hurricane Helene, was microchipped.
In a recent Facebook post, the Avery Humane Society wrote “yesterday, a sweet cat was brought to us as a stray. When we scanned her, we discovered she had a microchip. With a little digging, we learned she had gone missing after Hurricane Helene — 443 days ago.”
Gabby the missing kitty who has been reunited with her family is adorable, by the way:
I’m a dog guy through and through but I’ll be darned if that isn’t one adorable cat. And I remember Hurricane Helene like it was yesterday. It was passing by Florida as I was flying back home to Florida from a work trip in California.
As I was boarding my flight, in the time it took from when my ticket was scanned until I got to my seat on the connecting flight to Atlanta, I received 3 notifications that my connecting flight from Atlanta to Florida had been canceled -> rebooked -> canceled -> rebooked -> indefinitely delayed 24 hours so they didn’t have to cancel it and provide me with any aid for being stuck in the Atlanta airport for 24 hours.
After all that, if I got home and my pets were lost and gone I would’ve been an absolute mess. Seeing this story of the cat reunited after 443 days warms my heart. And I’m thankful my dog is a rescue who came microchipped in case anything ever happened.