In early 2002 Skiathos suffered one of the worst winters on record and the amount of snow caught everybody by surprise! Because of the heavy snowfall, the shelter couldn’t be reached by car. Helen and her helpers Ian and Jan managed to get there despite the conditions, but the dogs were apparently none the worse for wear.
Here are a few extracts from the 11th of January that Helen wrote down, to give you an insight of what the shelter was like during this period.
“ The dogs have been truly amazing! Most of the snow had melted between the 1st and the 2nd blizzard, I took all of them out for walks- around 16 dogs at a time.
They were so full of energy and seemed to love the snow. They were jumping in all the snow drifts on the side of the mountain road.
Well the weather is still rotten. The snow is still around, but at least things are moving again. The main road is not fixed yet and apparently a team of experts have to be drafted in from the state authorities. So the buses are still not running, nor any heavy vehicles.
Although all the dogs are fine, the shelter looks like a war zone. Fallen trees and debris from the damage everywhere. Still big piles of ice and snow around. As soon as the weather improves, we will have a team of people up there, to fix everything.
There are a couple of holes in the roof in the main building and the other roof on the bottom pens has sagged completely in the middle so the beams will probably have to be replaced.
The outer door and the roof over it have been smashed to pieces by the fallen tree. The fallen tree is still lying outside; it’s huge. I asked a few people who want wood for their fires to come up with their chainsaws and chop it up, but so far nobody has taken up my offer…”
This is it for now, next addition we will meet Nina, one of our volunteers and hear about her story!
Please follow our blog, warm furry wishes Jenny & Greta
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