Betty Walter waited in her attic with the canines for more than 14 hours

Even before the worst of Hurricane Harvey began, dog lover Betty Walter was prepared.

According to Today.com, in anticipation of the storm, the 44-year-old woman had rounded up four of her own dogs, a handful of foster dogs awaiting adoption, as well as some friends’ and neighbors’ dogs into her care. As they awaited rescue, the group stowed away in her attic in southeast Houston, hoping to avoid the rising flood waters. It was challenging to get all the pups up into the roost of her one-story home; some of them were small and easy to carry, but others — like a Great Pyrenees — required some ingenuity. Walter fashioned some makeshift stairs to get the 120-lb. dog up to safety.

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Image zoom Betty Walter/Facebook

With anxiety over the ever-increasing water level, her phone battery, and food and drinking water, Walter put out various messages about her situation onto social media. “I was not going to leave the dogs,” Walter told Today. “These little pets were depending on me to take care of them … I was pleading not to be forgotten.”

Nearly 14 hours later, around 3 p.m. on Sunday, help serendipitously arrived. A man named Buck Beasley, along with Jeremy Williams and Anthony Hernandez, had been out canvasing Walter’s neighborhood in Beasley’s flat-bottom boat. First they found a man and his Doberman and welcomed the pair aboard. Then they found Walter, who spoke to the crew through a window.

Image zoom Betty Walter/Facebook

At first she was a bit reluctant to come onboard, cautioning the men about how many dogs she had with her.

“I was worried there was too many dogs on the boat and it would [tip] over,” Walter wrote on Facebook. “I told them I would stay behind and for them to make two trips. They said NO we are taking all and you. We had 21 dogs on this boat.”

Image zoom Betty Walter/Facebook

The animals boarded the boat and the humans walked alongside them in the water; at one point Walters recalls her feet barely touching the ground the flooding was so bad. Eventually they reached Beasley’s truck and drove about 20 miles to his hometown, where it was raining but not flooded.

Image zoom Betty Walter/Facebook

Beasley and his wife Amy happen to be volunteers with Bay Area Pet Adoptions, and they’d been busy rescuing pets since the storm began. They even had a structure on their property specifically built for homeless dogs, which obviously came in handy during this unique circumstance. The four people rescued along with two dozen dogs were offered a safe haven at the Beasleys’ home.

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On Monday, Walter updated her Facebook page with some good news. All of the dogs were being cared for, either with her, at foster homes, at boarding facilities or safely at home.

She updated Facebook again on Aug. 30 with some photos of her home and neighborhood.

She also updated her friends and new fans about the dogs, along with numerous postings about other needy rescue pets in the area.

Neighbors, volunteers and strangers all continue to help each other out, providing for the pets as well as clothing and shelter for Hurricane Harvey refugees. As Amy Beasley said, “How many times have you said, ‘I wish I could do something?’ … You’re not often presented with an opportunity you’re so well suited for.”

For those interested in helping Walter, she has set up a PayPal account for funds to aid the cleanup and renovations of her flooded home. It can be accessed through her Facebook page. More ways to help Hurricane Harvey pets and pet families are listed below.