Robert Simmons Jr. was recently observing the floodwater in his neighborhood (New Bern) caused by hurricane Florence which literally turned the streets of the small town into canals. Some spots were waist deep and some were even deeper. Simmons spent his whole life there and was heartbroken by the scenes he saw.
He says that Florence is the worst hurricane he’s seen, and he’s seen them all. While talking to a news crew, a kitten was peering slowly through the top of his rain jacket. Simmons has taken the kitty with him on the boat and it meowed the whole way through. Both were wet and tired and the crew took pictures right away. It goes without saying they went viral immediately.
As the hurricane hurled through North Carolina, Simmons’ story was not the only one of that kind. Thousands of people lost their whole lives in the floods.
Meet Robert Simmons. Was stuck in his house since last night, when floodwaters began to rise in New Bern. A boat came and rescued him just now. He was sad to leave his father but left with his kitten hugging his neck. Cat’s name: Survivor, Simmons said. #HurricaneFlorence2018 pic.twitter.com/vRR3lANDJe
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) September 14, 2018
The kitten climbed out of the jacket on the man’s back and stood up on his shoulder. It looked like they knew each other their whole life. Simmons told the crew he feeds the kitty and they just clicked at first sight. The kitty was separated from his momma and it wasn’t the first separation that day. Simmons gave it a fitting name – Survivor. There were boats arriving and departing Washington Street all day long, watching them haul his neighbors.
Luckily, Simmons’ home wasn’t flooded. The water stopped outside his front door, but inside everything was dry. On the streets, however, it was a whole different story. It was like a river swallowed everything. There was no way in or out – just water. Simmons begged for his father to leave, but the man wouldn’t bulge.
Hurricane Florence hit that part of the town pretty hard. New Bern was pretty flooded, strainding people inside their homes and drowning many. Simmons say that he has food and water, so he was prepared. The only thing he wasn’t prepared was the feeling of being trapped – that’s the nature of floods.
