GREEN COVE SPRINGS – After a hectic two weeks, employees at the Clay County Animal Care and Control have licked their facility’s wounds and reopened their main shelter damaged from Hurricane Irma.

The reopening Sept. 26 comes after intense flooding filled sections of the facility with water and forced employees – and a roadside stranger – to swim animals out of the drowning facility on Sept. 11. After the flooding, CCACC set up a temporary site at the Clay County Fairgrounds.

Although the facility is operational, its capacity remains hindered by the poor shape of their cat facility – a three-room building cordoned off from the rest of the compound. There, water rose up to four feet.

Flooding damage to the building has left county staff wondering if it’s safe to house cats, so CCACC has been using its offsite adoption facility to house eligible felines. The facility is located at 1809 Town Center Blvd. on Fleming Island

“There’s 25 cages in total,” said CCACC Director Christina Sutherin. “Going from 70, what we had previously, that’s a huge difference in the capacity that we’re able to care for. The more people that want to come out and adopt or rescue groups that want to pull, the better.”

The extent of damage to that section of the compound will not be known until a water damage restoration company finishes and an assessment is completed. County Facilities Manager James Householder did not respond for comment by Wednesday for this report.

“The waters rose quickly and the waters receded quickly, so we didn’t have sitting, stagnant water there for days,” Sutherin said. “If you’re going to look for anything positive out of it, one, we got here in time and got the animals out of here, and two, the water didn’t stay.”

Facility restoration with volunteers and staff began Sept. 18.

Although the cat facility is perhaps the only building to sustain long-term damage, the outside canine holding facility was also flooded. Staff swam in to rescue animals trapped by the rising waters.

“We lived at animal control,” said Courtney Sumner, CCACC program manager. “We got the call of ‘all hands on deck, we need help…’ We were literally swimming dogs out. We were swimming in the dark through the flood waters and stuffing them wherever we could.”

The shelter has already taken in 60 animals since it opened Tuesday. It’s unclear how many of these animals were displaced from families during the hurricane, how many were intentionally abandoned and how many are strays, according to Sumner.

“We’re trying to reunite animals with family members,” Sumner said. “So far we’ve been successful, but please come check here, because most likely if you’re missing your baby they could be here.”

Many dogs currently housed were rescues from Hurricane Irma, which blew through Clay County Sept. 10, dropped 14 inches of rain on the county, flooded Black Creek and the St. Johns River. The CCACC shelter sits between a split in Black Creek’s south fork, and was flooded from multiple sides when the storm surge caused creek levels to rise.

A number of local and regional shelters and nonprofits took in the 101 animals rescued during the storm.

The administrative facility in the center of the compound was spared from any internal flooding damage.

The Clay County Board of County Commissioners has considered for years when to prioritize building a new CCACC facility. The current facility, built in the late 60s, comes with a litany of problems from its small size to its remote location that discourages volunteerism.

A new facility is currently on the county’s capital priority list. The facility is estimated to cost roughly $7 million, although that number is expected to shift in one direction or the other as actual plans materialize.

“We’ll still be here for a while, but we’re OK with it,” Sutherin said. “We know the plans that we need to make now. This is the one event we don’t want to have to go through again.”

Sutherin said she is thankful for donations the facility received after the flooding. Staff lost all their donations, which are kept in a shed adjacent to its main facility. Water reached the shed’s rooftop and spoiled all donated goods, such as dog and cat food.

Luckily, donors from the community and as far as North Carolina donated and refilled the shelter’s stock. Volunteers also arrived to help restore the facility.

“We want to thank everybody,” Sutherin said.

Sutherin said the shelter could still use kitten milk replacement, kitten food, blankets, squeaky toys and – perhaps most importantly – the community to adopt or foster animals to keep the shelter from being inundated.

Email courtney.sumner@claycountygov.com for more information on becoming a foster.