Pet groomer recounts scramble to save pets from flooding

By Anjali Patel

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    CANDLER, North Carolina (WLOS) — A pet grooming business in Candler is picking up the pieces one week after floods devastated part of Western North Carolina.

Christy Welch, a manager of Pam’s Pet Center, said the floodwaters on Old Candler Town Road rose quickly that Tuesday night, engulfing the road — and the business — rapidly.

“The water outside was rushing so fast, and it was higher than it was inside the shop. And inside the shop, it was just dark, and it was, like, eerie and calm, and you could hear the window creaking and cracking where the water was pushing against it,” Welch said.

She said the water in the business was up to her chest. But nine pets were trapped in there, and Welch knew she couldn’t leave them there.

“Going inside that building was the scariest thing I think I’ve ever done in my life,” she said. “The neighbor behind us brought me a ladder and broke the back window out, and I actually climbed through the little bitty back window. And I started passing dogs back to my son and his two friends were on the bank, and we sort of had a bucket gang just shooting dogs up the railroad tracks.”

Three Buncombe County Sheriff’s Deputies — Jeff Lynn, Darrius Davidson and Robert Foster — helped them get the animals to safety.

Of the three cats, ferret and five dogs that were trapped in there, Welch said all but two chihuahuas made it out alive.

“It was awful, it’s actually a picture I can’t get out of my head,” Welch said. “You shut your eyes, and you see them.”

Welch said she was so upset, she couldn’t even bring herself to go back to Pam’s Pet Center the next day.

“It wasn’t until Thursday after that that it really fully sank in what had happened and how much we had to clean up,” Welch said.

A lot was lost that Tuesday, and cleaning up Pam’s will be a process.

“We lost all the furniture. We took all the drywall out up to where the water level went,” she said. “We’ve got it pressure washed out. We’ve got it gutted out, and we’re not going to have a lot of furniture for a little while.”

Welch said they’re hopeful and optimistic about the business’ future, though. Amid so much loss, their grooming equipment survived, laying on a floating table that night. Welch said it’s a sign.

“Finding the clippers was like, ‘OK, God said you must have needed to keep on clipping dogs because all your grooming supplies are safe,'” she said. “It was our sign, ‘Ok, you need to get back up and going.'”

Thanks to that ‘sign,’ Pam’s Pet Center is still grooming right now — just from Welch’s front porch. Welch said they hope to officially reopen the business next week.

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