Hope for flooded rescue as locals lend help

Barky Pines Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, the animal rescue west of The Acreage that was flooded after last weekend’s storms, has hope thanks to an anonymous donor and a local site development company.

Seventy animals had to be evacuated from Barky Pines after several feet of water accumulated across the property, which sits in a neighborhood bordered by farms and flood control districts, but has no flood control of its own.

Acreage-based D&S Site Developing LLC has been hired by the nameless benefactor to raise the rescue’s property and perform other work to prevent water from pooling on the 6-acre site in the future, Barky Pines founder Elizabeth Accomando said.

Once the water has cleared from her property, Accomando said D&S crews will dump 300 loads of fill, build a berm and an aboveground retention pond, improve the drainage in the existing pond and replace a damaged culvert.

Accomando estimates the work could cost $500,000 or more. “We have hope,” she said. “We don’t have to give up hope now.”

Things were looking dim for the 2-year-old rescue this week when days of torrential rains caused water to pool across Barky Pines’ property.

But thanks to social media and news reports, there has been a groundswell of support, Accomando said. People have fostered and adopted animals, while others have opened their homes and garages temporarily to provide space. The owners of Palm Beach Boxing, Lou and Wendi Martinez, took in Accomando’s farm animals. “These are all wonderful people,” she said. “They don’t have to help, but they do.”

All the animals now have at least temporary homes and all were placed in about three days, she said.

Several businesses also provided food and other necessities that were destroyed in the flood. Every Pet Supermarket in Palm Beach County has a donation bin for Barky Pines, and Red Barn Feed and Supply in Loxahatchee Groves donated a gift card to cover food for the farm animals. Allstate will have a fundraiser for Barky Pines from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 2 at Red Barn.

“I can never repay what everyone has been doing,” Accomando said.

She and her family live on the still-flooded land, where they run an auto body business. She plans to remain at the site through the weekend, even as more rain threatens to create further flooding. They are staying in an RV, which is parked on the property’s highest spot.

“I don’t feel like I’m in imminent danger of dying,” she said. “But the animals would have been at risk. The priority was getting the animals out, and we’ve been able to do that.”

The next step, Accomando said, is getting the land dry so work can begin. “There’s hope on the horizon,” she said.