Vermont Cat Cafe Destroys Own Floor to Save Animals From Drowning

As people began evacuating Barre, Vermont, Alexis Dexter knew she couldn't leave her business behind.

Dexter, the owner of Kitty Korner Café in downtown Barre, opted to stay with the over 50 shelter cats that reside at the café to keep them safe as Vermont battled extreme rain. A long-duration rainstorm overwhelmed the area's creeks and rivers and pushed the Wrightsville Dam to its limits, flooding Barre's Main Street with so much water that it surged into Dexter's business—something that didn't even happen during 2011's Hurricane Irene.

On Monday afternoon, water began rising faster than Dexter could have imagined, forcing her to resort to extraordinary measures to ensure the cats' safety. Officials had ordered evacuations for businesses and residents residing in the flood zone, but Kitty Korner Café was outside of those boundaries.

"When I first left the building to get help at 5 [p.m.], it was up to my shins," she told Newsweek.

Only two hours later, the water started lapping into the building, where dozens of cats were stuck and afraid. After moving the cats to higher ground in the store, Dexter took matters into her own hands to keep them safe and used a screwdriver and a hammer to chisel a hole into her business's floor so that the water would drain into the basement.

"There was no way we could evacuate 50-plus shelter cats that are here, some of which are on medical regiments," Dexter said, adding that someone stayed with the cats overnight as the floods worsened. "There was nowhere we could get that many cats in short order, especially with how high the water was and how fast it was moving."

By 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, the amount of water in the basement set off the business's fire alarm. By late Tuesday morning, the water was up to the second step at the top of the stairs.

"It's a 7-foot basement to the ceiling, not counting the stairwell," Dexter said. Kitty Korner Café posted a video of the flooded basement to its Facebook page.

By Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. ET, the water started receding. Power had resumed, and the business was running sump pumps. Although the cats were saved from drowning, the basement sustained damage and Dexter said lots of supplies and equipment were lost, including a new washer and dryer. The fate of the basement is still undetermined.

The rain has mostly stopped, and the waters are receding. The cats and staff are safe for now, but Dexter is still concerned about the possibility of a spillover at the nearby Wrightsville Dam in Montpelier. If that happens, Montpelier's situation could turn dire.

"I hope to God it doesn't," she said of the dam spilling over.