With Hurricane Idalia hitting the southeastern U.S. and moving on as a tropical storm, parts of Florida, Georgia and neighboring states have become flooded and temporarily unsafe for residents, and many have had to leave their homes.
One woman caught the attention of people across the internet after showing how resourceful locals in the Tampa Bay area have had to take their pets to safety to protect them from the flood waters. The clip, recorded in St. Petersburg, Florida, and shared on TikTok under the username jamienkoda, shows the woman carrying her dog, Koda, to safety on a canoe, just like one of her neighbors, who also decided to put his dog first.
The post, which quickly went viral on social media, has a caption that says: “Had to get the dogs out of our house, whole neighborhood is flooded.”
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Hurricane Idalia was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall in Florida on Wednesday. It has led to significant flooding in Florida and Georgia.
Parts of South Carolina still face a 5 percent to 15 percent chance of excessive rainfall leading to flooding, and the risk of flash flooding across northern and western Florida is expected to persist until Saturday.
The video of the dog quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 426,600 views and 37,500 likes on the platform.
One user, Dori, commented: “Stay safe, and please watch out for gators, snakes, and anything else that’s dangerous while walking in water that deep.” And Ashley Roe said: “This is my worst nightmare. Get somewhere safe and love on those babies for being so good.”
Kace wrote: “Happy you and the pups are safe & happy you took your animals with you.” And Chey’s arena added: “Y’all are so brave. I could not walk through that water I’d be scared of alligators lurking nearby.”
Another user, RockyMountainHighLife, commented: “I moved to St Pete after college and we flooded so many times the first couple years I left lol we don’t even get rain now in Colorado lol.” And Kalia said: “Thank you for being such a great owner & keeping the precious pups safe.”
Newsweek reached out to jamienkoda for comment via TikTok chat. We couldn’t verify the details of the case.
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