Wisconsin Humane Society welcomes 33 cats evacuated ahead of Hurricane Dorian

MILWAUKEE -- The Wisconsin Humane Society on Saturday, Aug. 31 welcomed 33 cats from Florida -- evacuated ahead of Hurricane Dorian.

According to WHS officials, these cats had already been in shelters, searching for homes, and their departure helped ensure Florida shelters would be better prepared to support any pets displaced by the storm.

For those interested in potentially adopting these cats, WHS officials said some could be available as soon as Sunday, while others needed some more treatment and care before they would be ready for "furever" families.

For those interested in helping with the rescue effort, WHS officials offered these three suggestions:




    Hurricane Dorian's almost 185-mph sustained winds were bringing "catastrophic conditions" to the Abaco Islands, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday, and forecasters predicted the Category 5 storm would remain over the northern Bahamas into Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2.

    The storm made landfall on the southern end of Elbow Cay, which runs along the east coast of Great Abaco, early Sunday afternoon. It was the first time a Category 5 storm has hit the island chain since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

    With gusts over 200 miles per hour, Dorian became "the strongest hurricane in modern records for the northwestern Bahamas," the center said.

    The storm was growing, meteorologists said, with hurricane-force winds extending 45 miles from its eye.

    Once the storm finishes deluging the Bahamas it was expected to head toward Florida, where mandatory evacuation orders were issued. Exactly where (or if) it would hit the U.S. East Coast remained unclear Sunday.