Sweet Pup Can't Stop Licking Rescuers After Being Saved From Florence Flooding

Thanks to a couple of brave animal lovers, one lucky North Carolina dog was saved from the floodwaters of Florence and she couldn’t show her gratitude in a more adorable way.

The black-and-white female pit bull was found drenched and alone on a porch in South Lumberton, North Carolina, on Sunday by Brent Scott, 37, and Sam Woodman, 35. The pair drove down from Maine on Thursday to rescue animals in the aftermath of the storm.

 “She was so appreciative to see us,” Scott told HuffPost of the abandoned pooch. She had no tag around her neck, and a cut section of leash dangled around her neck.

“These people [in the neighborhood] weren’t even going to take her,” he said. “They just were ignoring her, and we said, ‘Well, we’ll take her now.’”

If the sweet pup’s unrelenting tail-wagging and big licks for her rescuers are any indication, she couldn’t be any more thankful for their efforts.

The two men documented the rescue and subsequent ride to safety in a Facebook Live video on Sunday.

“We’re gonna get you a nice towel, get you dried off,” Woodman can be heard in the video comforting the rescued dog inside their van. “You ever see somebody so happy?”

During their first days in North Carolina, the pair said they delivered pet food to area hotels where people had been forced to evacuate with their animals.

“Responsible people take their dogs” or at the very least leave their contact information around their neck, Scott said.

Asked if he’d thought of a name for her, Woodman said, “How about Florence! I couldn’t do that. That would be too corny.” 

Fortunately, Scott and Woodman aren’t the only ones working hard to rescue animals threatened by the historic storm. Freelance reporter Marcus DiPaola rescued six dogs in Leland, North Carolina, on Sunday after they were left locked up in an outdoor cage.

A pastor and two members of his church in Jacksonville, North Carolina, pulled both multiple dogs and cats from the floodwaters on Friday while searching for stranded humans.

Roughly 50 miles to the north, a team of rescuers set out Saturday on jet skis and motorboats with a mission to save four-legged friends in need. They rescued at least 18 dogs that day.

Florence, which made landfall on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, and has since become a tropical depression, has killed multiple people and left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power.