Columbia, SC (WLTX) - The effects of hurricane Florence caused a major headache for people all over the Carolina's including Leslie Ochoa.
Her and her husband Gio live on a farm with several animals and they knew they needed to get out of the Wilmington area where they liveso they packed up and headed to the midlands.
Ochoa like a lot of people who heard several days prior to the storm it was a Category Four thought it was best to head out of town.
She was able to take a couple of animals but she tells me she wasn't able to take all of them and she describes the terrible feeling of having to leave her home without the pets she calls family.
Ochoa says, "It was really heartbreaking I had to talk to all of my animals before I left because i felt like i wasn't going to see them again when I got back." But the farmer did bring a few animals along...14 goats to be exact. The goats were staying in this truck when her and her family were staying at a hotel for one night and that's where she met Linda Zember, the woman she calls her angel.
Zember has been a volunteer at Pets Inc shelter for nearly 30 years and she explains why she helped. Zember says, "When you start seeing pain in people's lives and you start realizing its not all about me and what i'm going through...and I know it sounds like something coming out of a magazine article but it's really true there's always somebody going through something."
Zember goes on to say, "it's easy we're not going to get away from the tragedy but there's always people willing to help and come together."
Ochoa isn't certain when she will be able to return to the Wilmington area.
In the meantime - she's been told by FEMA to continue to keep her animals at PET Inc.
PET Inc, has brought it nearly 70 animals as a result of Hurricane Florence.