Storm damages National Mill Dog Rescue

Hail from a strong storm on Thursday tore through National Mill Dog Rescue’s roof, flooding parts of the building and collapsing the ceiling.

The nonprofit’s founder,Theresa Strader, had headed home shortly before the storm rolled through. Within minutes, her volunteers called her frantic because of the damage the hail had inflicted on the building.

“It was jarring. It was very jarring to walk into the building and see it all like this. It’s spooky,” said Strader.

Hail the size of golf balls ripped holes in parts of the building’s roof. Dogs started to get pelted with the hail while water flooded their kennels. Volunteers rushed to move the dogs to protected areas. The water soaked ceiling panels and the panels collapsed and fell to the floor.

“We were all pretty rattled. It’s not fun to go through something like that when you have all these little lives that are relying on the safety and security here,” said Strader.

Terese Black was volunteering in the building when the storm hit.

“I have not been in a hailstorm like this and I have been here my entire life,” said Black.

Black said the hail fell for only 10 minutes, but it was a stressful and scary situation for the volunteers and dogs.

National Mill Dog Rescue rescued dogs last week so the nonprofit doesn’t have much room to spare inside its building. Much of the roof over its main kennel was destroyed. The dogs have been moved to smaller kennels while others went home with foster families.

Strader said her volunteers as well as the Ellicott Fire Department acted quickly, assessing the damage and getting dogs out of harm’s way. Strader said while it’s a stressful situation, she is confident that they will be up and running as quickly as possible.