Ben Madilynn
A dog in Tennessee has reunited with her family after she was stranded in a tree 20 feet above ground amid Hurricane Helene flooding.
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the Kingsport Fire Department revealed in a Facebook post that its Technical Rescue Team and the Murfreesboro Police Department discovered the missing dog 20 feet up a tree in Washington County near the Nolichucky River.
Not long after, Athena was reunited with her owners in a heartfelt moment documented by local NBC affiliate WCYB.
A police department dog initially alerted rescuers to the missing pup on Wednesday, before members of the fire department used a ladder to retrieve her, the department wrote on Facebook. The Murfreesboro Police Department revealed in its own Facebook post that K9 Kari and her handler, Officer Angela Alexander, were assisting with locating flood casualties when she began “barking uncontrollably and led the search team to a tree.”
“The funny thing about Kari is she is not fond of other dogs but this time it was different,” Alexander said. “I’m so proud of her helping to find something good in all the devastation caused by the flooding.”
The fire department wrote that Athena was then “happily removed from the tree,” before rescuers fed her. “She has been turned over to the local animal control for a hopeful reunion with her family.”
In video from the rescue, a member of the fire department could be seen climbing up the ladder before scooping the pup and safely returning her to the ground. And as it turns out, the dog has since been reunited with her owners, who say she was separated from them amid Hurricane Helene on Friday, Sept. 27, before they saw the footage of her rescue on social media.
Kingsport Fire Department/Facebook
Allie and TJ Faulkner, residents of Jonesboro and Athena’s owners, told WCYB that they rushed their children to TJ’s parents’ house during flooding last week. And while TJ and his father later returned to the family’s home to rescue their pets — including their dog — he told the outlet it was too late.
“We took his front-end loader and put it up against a building and climbed up on the building,” TJ said, adding that he watched as the storm took his home. “A bunch of debris pushed up against my font porch. It was metal steel beams. It collapsed my front porch. When it done that, it just pushed my house and it floated like an arc.”
But not all was lost for the family, who tell WCYB that they spotted the video of Athena’s rescue on social media after losing their home. “I was weeping, I was laughing,” Allie said. “I was so happy.”
Capt. Zach Helvey of the KFD said, per WCYB, that the police department’s bloodhound initially alerted him to Athena in the tree. “I climbed up there, I gave her a little bit more food and kind of just made sure she wasn’t gonna nip at me,” Helvey said, before calling Athena the “sweetest dog alive” who was friendly with her rescuers.
Her reunion with her owners was documented by WCYB, showing the excited pup give kisses to TJ, Allie and their kids. As TJ told the outlet, those who rescued his dog “put a light at the end of the tunnel.”
“It’s like another member of our family, it’s like another child,” TJ said. “She means a lot to us.”
Kingsport Fire Department/Facebook
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Athena’s reunion with her owners comes just days after another dog rescue in Florida, when the U.S. Coast Guard revealed that a man and his dog were saved on Sept. 26 as Hurricane Helene approached the state. At the time, the man was in a 36-foot sailboat off the coast of Florida when it “became disabled” and “started taking on water approximately 25 miles off Sanibel Island.”
Crew members with Air Station Clearwater saved the man and his dog in footage later shared by the agency’s Southeast division. The Coast Guard reported that they both “were reportedly in good medical condition” and “brought to Southwest Florida International airport to meet with EMS.”
