Community donates hundreds of gallons of water to help DeKalb shelter

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Much of DeKalb County is without water after a major main break in Doraville on Wednesday.

One county shelter location said it had animals that need of water and took to Facebook to ask for donations.

DeKalb County Animal Services, located at 3280 Chamblee Dunwoody Road in Chamblee, said it had hundreds of animals that are in urgent need of water.

“It was very terrifying my first thought was that none of the dogs would have water to drink,” said rescue coordinator Katie Corbett.

The shelter asked the public to help with donations. The shelter posted to Facebook around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, and the message was shared more than 700 times.

A few commenters on the Facebook post said they placed orders for water through Amazon Prime Now. The shelter said anyone wishing to donate water can drop off donations at its front desk -- and that's exactly what they did.

The shelter posted an update Wednesday afternoon showing hundreds of gallons of water piled up in the hallway.

"We are so incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from our amazing community this morning! Our water has come back on, but we are still under a boil water advisory. The donations we have received will ensure that our animal's bowls are kept full of clean water," the shelter posted.

Channel 2's Justin Wilfon visited the shelter Wednesday afternoon. People dropped off case after case of bottled water filling entire rooms of the shelter with plenty of water for the animals to drink.

“(We're) very, very relieved. It’s amazing what people are willing to do if you just ask for help,” Corbett said.

The water outage was caused Wednesday morning when a 48-inch transmission main broke on Buford Highway in Doraville.

Visit the shelter's website for more information.

Cox Media Group