SOUTH CAROLINA — A truck driver from Tennessee used a school bus he bought to rescue cats and dogs just before Hurricane Florence brought deadly storms and flooding to North Carolina and South Carolina, The Greenville News reports.  

On Sept. 10, when the hurricane was a few days away from the coast, Tony Alsup drove his bus to shelters in a handful of South Carolina towns, gathering 53 dogs and 11 cats. He then transported them to a shelter in Alabama that was waiting for them, according to the newspaper. The cats and dogs will be sent to shelters across the country from that location.

Alsup also rescued shelter animals from hurricane zones last year in Texas and Florida, and flew to Puerto Rico to save animals there, The Greenville News reports. He responded to an online request to help evacuate shelter pets from Hurricane Harvey, but saw the number of animals that needed to be rescued was greater than what he could fit in the cab of his truck. Soon after, he bought a used school bus for $3,200, drove it to Texas, and filled it with shelter animals that he transported out of harm’s way.

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