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Maricopa storms damage animal sanctuary, food pantry
Devastating storms swept through Maricopa, leaving flooded properties in their wake, taking the lives of seven rescue birds at a local animal sanctuary, and flipping a storage trailer at a nearby food pantry. FOX 10's Andrew Christiansen reports.
MARICOPA, Ariz. - An animal sanctuary and a food pantry in Maricopa are still recovering after severe storms devastated their properties. For one animal sanctuary, the heavy rain and wind turned deadly for several rescue birds.
What we know:
Overnight storms affected a few of the structures at the Gud Ark Animal Sanctuary, including a rabbit enclosure where parts of the roof collapsed. Fortunately, the rabbits were not affected, but there were some birds that unfortunately passed away in another structure.
"Everything’s pretty loose as well, so we’ll have to fix that," said Ellese Gudvangen, owner of the Gud Ark Animal Sanctuary, pointing to parts of the enclosure.
As Gudvangen walks around her Maricopa animal rescue, all she sees is the damage caused by hail and strong winds. A lot of the property flooded, trees fell, and parts of buildings collapsed.
"We’re limited on hands, limited on supplies, energy, and just doing animal care and chores takes six to seven hours alone," Gudvangen said.
The storm turned deadly for some of her rescues. One bird enclosure flipped over in about 1 foot of water, trapping and drowning seven birds.
"Some of our parrots that were in the aviaries that we couldn’t get in before the storm hit. They definitely were yelling at us saying, ‘This isn’t right,’" Gudvangen said.
Gudvangen says they are working to rebuild enclosures for their animals, which are desperately needed in the extreme temperatures.
"With it still being summer, we have very limited space in the areas in which we could house animals in cooler areas," Gudvangen said.
Severe storms in Maricopa flooded properties, killed seven rescue birds at an animal sanctuary, and flipped a storage trailer at a local food pantry.
‘We have mouths to feed’
Dig deeper:
A few doors down at Maricopa Pantry, the winds were so severe that it actually knocked a trailer over on its side. The wheels ended up on top when they should be on the ground.
"Luckily, I didn’t have a whole lot in it, so we didn’t lose anything," said Jim Shoaf, founder of Maricopa Pantry. The pantry's founder says they use the trailer to store canned goods.
"We don’t let stuff bother us here because we have mouths to feed," Shoaf said.
He is finding a way to flip it back over so they can continue to use it to serve their community. "Continue on. Life goes on. Do what we need," Shoaf said.
What you can do:
The Gud Ark is asking for donations – click here to learn more about donating.