As Florence battered the Carolinas this past week, dozens of heartwarming animal-rescue stories made national headlines dogs sprung from flooding homes , pets packed into a school bus , cats plucked directly from the water.

But millions of animals would not be so lucky.

An estimated 5,500 pigs and 3.4 million chickens and turkeys in North Carolina have died as a result of the storm, according to the states Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services . Aerial photos of the state from earlier this week showed multiple industrial barns almost completely submerged in water.