Flooding kills dogs at pet day care

WASHINGTON — Several pet owners in Washington, D.C. are grieving after a flash flood caused a wall at a dog day care to collapse, killing several animals.

>> Read more trending news

Some of the pets drowned when the water rose 6 feet outside of District Dogs on Monday afternoon, WRC reported. The business’s front wall and windows collapsed, allowing the rising water to rush inside, WUSA reported.

Twenty dogs and several employees were rescued from the business, but officials did not release how many dogs died, WUSA reported.

“It’s hard to watch. It’s unbearable,” D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told WRC. “This is losing a member of your family or being scared that you did.”

Owners of the day care released a statement on Twitter, now known as X, on Monday night, calling the employees and first responder’s actions “quick and heroic” as they rescued animals, WTTG reported.

This wasn’t the first time that flooding trapped animals and employees inside the business. In August 2022, rainwater collected in an underpass, causing about three feet of flooding inside the same building, WUSA reported. About 50 dogs were there at the time of that flooding, but none were hurt.

Jacob Hensley said the business, which opened at the Rhode Island Avenue location in May 2022, has been flooded three times in four weeks, but he was never told about the potential for water when District Dogs was built, The Washington Post reported.

In addition to the day care, there were several cars that were trapped under the underpass on Monday, with the occupants in need of rescue, the newspaper reported. All got out safely.

DC Water released a statement on Twitter that said that the area where the business was located on Rhode Island Avenue “has experienced chronic flooding, as far back as the late 1800′s, especially during intense rainstorms. DC Water has rain gauges in Northeast DC that recorded approximately 2 inches of rain in 45 minutes today.”

The agency added, “This location under the Metro overpass is a low point that acts as a bowl and stormwater flows into it from multiple directions.”

The utility said that while there are storm drains if the sewer is at capacity the water has nowhere to go. A tunnel has been commissioned to help ease the potential for flooding but it has not been completed, according to WUSA.

DC Water said it is investigating, WTOP reported.