The owner of the kennel where 10 dogs drowned Monday said the northeast DC facility will be permanently closed after devastating floods swept through the business.
Jacob Hensley, the owner of District Dogs, was heartbroken when he spoke to our sister network News4 on Tuesday about the flash flood.
“We’re all in this business because we love dogs. We love dogs very much. This is not what we want to do,” Hensley lamented through tears.
A video shows the rapidly rising waters outside District Dogs. The floodwaters reached 6 feet before rushing through the daycare’s glass windows in a matter of minutes.
“Within about 10 minutes, the walls were breached. There was 5, 6 feet of water inside. The stories I’ve been told of my employees inside, who were climbing on the shelves trying to survive. We moved the dogs into the area as high as possible,” Hensley explained.
Firefighters had to break drywall to let water out of the building.
“My entire District Dogs team in the Northeast are heroes. What they’ve been through shouldn’t go through in their lifetime,” Hensley said.
Employees were able to save most of the more than 40 dogs at the daycare. Firefighters could be seen helping carry them to their owners, who were anxiously waiting outside shortly after the flooding.
Hensley said losing 10 dogs in the flood was a shock.
“It was completely heartbreaking to make these phone calls and talk to these owners. This is not why we are in business. It is not something we should expect to do,” he said.
The pet owners said they were told the dogs were moved to a higher area when the building flooded.
A woman who lost a dog in the flood told Telemundo 44 that she is considering legal action against the daycare.
“She was my little thing, she was my baby… He has to accept the consequences for not having a safe space for the dogs,” she said. “I paid $700 a month to take care of her.”
A woman who lost her dog spoke with Telemundo 44 about what happened.
For her part, pet owner Caroline Kruk said she rushed to District Dogs after seeing a video rescuing her dog Emmy.
“I felt relief, pure relief when I saw her little head pop over the barrier and I knew she was fine,” he reiterated.
Although she is grateful that her pet is okay, she says her heart breaks for the other pet owners who weren’t so lucky.
In August last year, the same location suffered a major flood, but neither people nor dogs were injured. Hensley raised the issue with Washington DC leaders to do something about this flood prone area.
“Last year, all the district officials told me that it was safe. Everything was working, it was going to end. They assured us that it was a safe place to open the business,” Hensley insisted.
DC Water said a tunnel to help with flooding in the area is expected to open in two months.
Four cars were trapped on the flyover adjacent to District Dogs and drivers were rescued by first responders.
Hensley says the District Dogs on Rhode Island Avenue won’t reopen after the flooding, but he will look into opening another location to serve the Northeast community in the future.
“The community has been very supportive of us. They love us, they want us back, and I think District Dogs Northeast will be back in another location, in a better location, in a safer location, and we’re going to come back stronger. Yes, we’ll be back,” he said. .
