Woman rescues 97 dogs to protect them from Hurricane Dorian

A woman took in 97 stray dogs to protect them from Hurricane Dorian.

Chella Phillips rescued nearly a hundred dogs from the wild weather in the Bahamas. Source: Facebook

A woman in the Bahamas has opened her home to 97 dogs to protect them from the destructive winds of Hurricane Dorian.

Chella Phillips, the manager of the rescue organisation The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau Bahamas, had dozens of dogs in the rooms of her house to shield the animals from the rain as powerful winds battered the island.

The dogs settled into Chella Phillips' home. Source: Facebook

“97 dogs are inside my house and 79 of them are inside my master bedroom. It has been insane since last night, poop and piss non stop but at least they are respecting my bed and nobody has dared to jump in,” Ms Phillips wrote in a Facebook post.

Over the past four years, she has helped save a thousand homeless and abandoned dogs in the Bahamas.

Dorian, which is now a category 4 storm, reportedly caused an island-wide blackout after passing over New Providence, where Ms Phillips’ organisation is located.

The hurricane, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, has shown some signs of weakening as it remained stalled over Grand Bahama Island, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) says.

Some of the dogs in Chella Phillips' bedroom. Source: Facebook

Dorian has been pounding the Bahamas for days, killing at least five people in the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas and inundating homes with floodwater ahead of its expected advance on the US coast, where more than a million people have been ordered evacuated.

But the hurricane has weakened to a Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale with maximum sustained winds of 215km/h, the NHC said early on Tuesday. It is expected to stay put until at least later in the morning.

The exact toll of the devastation in the Bahamas will not be clear until the storm passes and rescue crews can get on the ground.