White Oak animal shelter still dealing with storm damage

A nearby creek caused debris to block the entrance of the White Oak Animal Safe Haven property.

Recent storms caused damage to the White Oak Animal Safe Haven property and forced the staff to find help so they could access the shelter.

After a storm hit the area May 5, debris from a nearby creek washed up at the front of the building, located at 2295 Lincoln Way, causing blockages of the driveway to get into the shelter.

“There may have been debris from previous storms, because we are kind of in a county park here,” said shelter President Laura Massie said. “So, there may have been some trees that came down previously from that storm and all of the debris pushed through. We couldn’t pull in the parking lot that morning with all the branches and stuff down until we got someone to come help us.”

Since 2003, White Oak Animal Safe Haven has been finding homes for “thousands of pets,” according to its website. It is a small, no-kill animal shelter that is run by volunteers, donors and sponsors with a dedication to finding loving, fur-ever homes for pets with all types of backgrounds.

Massie said all the animals were safe and the actual physical building was not harmed, but the front fence, which was installed a year ago and is not covered by insurance, was destroyed by the debris.

“What happened so far was we were able to get the debris removed, but we did find out our insurance does not cover it,” Massie said. “So now we are working on the next steps of getting estimates and seeing how much repairs are going into this.”

With other storms happening throughout the area since the May 5 storm, including local tornadoes and thunderstorms, Massie was worried something would happen