A small dog, whose owners reportedly died amid the destruction in Florida caused by Hurricane Milton, was rescued from the wreckage left behind by the storm, and the moment was captured on camera.
On Thursday, Oct. 10, CBS Miami shared a clip of reporter Morgan Rynor on the ground in Fort Pierce, Fla, reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. In the clip, Rynor is standing near a severely damaged home surrounded by piles of debris when a man walks away from the debris with a small dog in his arms.
“He got Benji,” Rynor said in the clip. “Oh my goodness… I cannot believe I’m starting this right now with some happy news. Look at this pile of debris over here to my left-hand side. About two seconds ago we just pulled out this little tiny dog named Benji, who has been missing since last night.”
In the news broadcast video, Rynor explains that Benji’s owners were “among the victims” of the storm and had been staying in the home featured behind her in the newscast. According to Rynor’s reporting, Benji “ran away” from his pet parents’ house during the storm and was discovered Thursday in what remained of the home next door. CBS News notes that a neighbor of Benji’s owners told Rynor that the dog’s pet parents died during Hurricane Milton’s landfall in Florida.
Speaking to CBS News, Rynor said photographer Brian Shanahan heard Benji barking at a distance before their 7:30 a.m. live shot. “Even though we were about two minutes from our 7:30 live shot, we decided Benji was more important,” Rynor said. The reporter added that the group found Benji shortly after starting their newscast and learned more about the dog when a neighbor recognized Benji.
Morgan Rynor Twist/Instagram
Rynor also shared the news about Benji on her Instagram Stories, posting an image of the pup snuggled up on her lap and noting that he was located “deep” in the debris pile.
“I’m told his owners unfortunately did not make it out alive,” the CBS Miami reporter wrote. “Benji is safe with me and being taken care of. Need to double-check he doesn’t have other family but then will need to find him a home. Neighbors are busy figuring out where they’re going to live.”
According to Fox affiliate WTTG, Benji’s rescue occurred in the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, a 55+ community in Port St. Lucie, located in St. Lucie County. Per Fox Weather, which cited the St. Lucie County Emergency Operations Center, at least four people were killed by the area’s tornados caused by Hurricane Milton on Wednesday.
“The most impacted area is about a half-square-mile community made up of older modular homes that the tornado went through and just completely devastated it,” Sheriff Keith Pearson said, adding that the natural disaster flipped vehicles and took modular homes off their foundations. “They don’t even look like homes anymore. They’re mangled there. There’s people trapped underneath them.”
In an update shared to Facebook by the sheriff’s office on Thursday morning, Pearson added that the local search-and-rescue team was able to transport 25 people to a “safe location” before again confirming the four deaths. According to ABC affiliate WPBF, the fatalities were reported in the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village.
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“Crews are still out there searching the area. We’re not gonna stop until we double check, triple check, make sure that anybody in there who needs to be rescued is gonna be rescued,” Pearson said, urging those who “don’t need to be out on the roadways” to stay safe.
In further updates about Benji on Thursday, Rynor told her followers on her Instagram Stories that the pup was looking “overall good,” in what she called a “miracle,” after she took Benji to a local vet. She and her photographer had also been “improvising” as they cared for the pup, taking him out for “potty breaks” using a microphone wire as a leash.
The damage to Fort Pierce comes from Milton, which made landfall in the U.S. on the western coast of Florida around Siesta Key, Fla., on Wednesday evening. The state is still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which landed in Florida’s Big Bend region on Sept. 26 and killed more than 200 people. The National Hurricane Center shared on Thursday that the center of Hurricane Milton moved off Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean.
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