An unnamed storm brought historic flooding to the Wilmington area just over a week ago, and many people are still recovering.
The flooding resulted in some people and animals being rescued. It also means some buildings need to be replaced or rebuilt, such as the Fix A Friend Spay Neuter Clinic in Winnabow.
Rebecca Leonard, assistant manager at the clinic, started a GoFundMe page because the low-cost clinic was covered with water. From a flooded parking lot to flooded building in less than 30 minutes, Leonard said they were able to evacuate more than 100 animals to safety.
Now comes the recovery.
More:80-year-old man dead after driving into flooded Brunswick County roadway
More:When it comes to hurricanes, I've been on both sides of the lens | Renee Spencer
Taking it one step at a time
Leonard said they are coping by just taking it one step at a time.
"We start at the bottom and move up and forward," Leonard said. "Trying to think of all the good that has come, and continues to come, when it starts to get bleak again."
Even light rain in recent days has brought her a sense of anxiety, but Leonard said she marches on thanks to the love and support of the community.
How much money was raised from the GoFundMe page?
"We have a few set up, each with their own mission," said Leonard, with one of the pages raising more than $4,000.
There were six employees working at the time of the evacuation and five of those lost their vehicles from the storm.
With over 100 animals in the building that needed to be evacuated, several staff members sacrificed their vehicles as the water rushed in, making their only focus about the animals inside.
Another GoFundMe was established to help with building a brand-new clinic, because the clinic has outgrown its current building.
There are others to help individual employees because of the sudden loss of income as they wait on unemployment and the clinic reopening.
"We are all desperate to get back to work and back to helping," Leonard said.
Of all the GoFundMe accounts, a little over $10,000 in donations have been raised.
What is the future for the clinic?
The plans right now are to build bigger and better, but land is hard to come by and building on new land is going to take time.
"Time that we can’t lose when it comes to helping animals and our surrounding communities," Leonard said.
The clinic provides spay and neuter services to countless rescue groups from Jacksonville to Marion County, South Carolina, as well as the general public.
"With over 100 surgeries a day, we can’t wait to build a new building on new land right away," Leonard said. For now, the short-term goal is to raise the current building and get it back up and running.