Hurricane Dorian slammed into North Carolina as a Category 1 storm on Sept. 6, lashing the state with heavy rain, wind and flooding after it made landfall on the Outer Banks, a chain of narrow barrier islands off the main coast.

Rising floodwaters swept over the land, and a storm surge carried a group of horses and cows out to sea. To the surprise of residents and national park officials, three of those cows were recently discovered at the Cape Lookout National Seashore park on the Outer Banks.

The cattle are believed to have arrived at the federal park by swimming at least two miles across the Core Sound from Cedar Island, according to a park spokesman, B.G. Horvat. He said that the cows’ caretaker, Woody Hancock, had identified them as being from Cedar Island.

“It’s a tremendous story of how they made it,” Mr. Horvat said on Wednesday from the park, which has 56 miles of beaches and is known for its black-and-white-checkered lighthouse, surf fishing and wild horses. “If the cows could talk, imagine the story they can tell you of enduring that rush of water,” he added. “That must be incredible.”