Cat Who Vanished During Tornado That Destroyed Her Home Reunites with Owner During News Broadcast
Pikachu the cat was reunited with its owner as the family dug through the rubble of its house
KJRH/Youtube
Cat, Who Went Missing During Tornado That Destroyed Its Family's Home, Reunited with Owner During News BroadcastA cat that went missing while tornadoes ravaged its Tulsa, Okla.—area home has been reunited with its owners — in a very public way.
When a tornado began to tear through Barnsdall — a small town about 40 miles north of Tulsa — on the night of Monday, May 6, resident Lindsay Crowder told local station KJRH that she and her family decided to go down to the town's shelter as a precaution but decided to leave their pets — including their cat Pikachu — behind.
"The sirens went off the first time. We went down to the shelter, then they [turned] off so we thought it was over," she recalled to the outlet, speaking about the hard-hitting storms on Tuesday. "So we came back home, and we were watching the radar pretty closely, and saw that it was coming straight for us. So, we went back down to the shelter and I am so glad that we did."
Related: 1 Dead in Oklahoma as Tornadoes Touch Down in Multiple States amid Severe Weather Outbreak
"We didn't have our pets with us," Crowder added to the outlet. "I honestly thought we were gonna come back and our house was still gonna be here."
After the family emerged from the town's tornado shelter, they discovered the same thing that many Oklahoma residents found after the latest bout of tornadoes — their house had been completely knocked down in the storm and their pets were missing. Despite the damage to their property, the Crowder family began to search for their pets, calling out for the cat as KJRH recorded a news segment.
In a heartfelt moment captured on video, Pikachu can be seen emerging from the rubble as her owner calls for her. As Crowder called "Here, kitty, kitty," the Siamese cat climbed out from under a piece of roofing, and her owner immediately scooped her up in her arms.
"I am so happy right now. This is just a house, and we can't replace her," Crowder added to the outlet.
Barnsdall, which saw the death of one person following during the storm, according to KOKI-TV, was just one of many towns in Oklahoma, Missouri and Tennessee that were ravaged by the most recent group of storms in the Midwest.
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According to Oklahoma's Department of Emergency Management, Barnsdall reported damage to more than 30 homes and also reported a natural gas leak in the town.
Although Pikachu was reunited with her family, organizations like the Humane Society of Tulsa have been working to reunite pets — including both cats and dogs — who were displaced during the tornadoes with their owners.
”Often, in these situations, cats will just stay, and they are terrified," Gina Gardner with the Humane Society of Tulsa told KJRH. "There are bulldozers and there’s chainsaws and there is so many scary noises and so many people that they will just stay hunkered down underneath debris for an extended period of time."
The Humane Society has set up an emergency shelter in Barnsdall to take in displaced pets, according to its Facebook page. It is now requesting donations of pet food and assistance on the ground in Barnsdall.
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