Doug Hannah and his wife, Jasmine, may have lost just about everything, but they are grateful for the help of friends who came to their rescue late last week when the Pelly River flooded over their property off the Blind Creek Road.

Hannah told the Star this morning that when he got up between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. last Thursday, things were not unusual. He went outside and turned the couple's solar panels toward the morning sun, then came inside to make his morning coffee.

It wasn't long afterward that a friend who had stayed there overnight got up, looked out the window and said, "Holy s---!"

When Hannah joined his friend at the window, he saw water flowing into the yard from the Pelly River, which is normally several hundred metres away from the home with a forest separating the property and river.

"It started coming really fast," Hannah said.

The couple live on a property that until the flood housed two horses, a kennel of 30 sled dogs, an organic garden, sheds and equipment like ATVs and snowmachines.

As the water poured in, Hannah did everything he could to get the animals to higher ground, the horses panicking and the dogs "crying and jumping" as water came in.

By this point, water was coming in over the rubber boots Hannah and his friend had on and dog houses were starting to float. The pair unhooked the dogs so they could get out of the flooded dog yard, but only a few ran, others not knowing where to go as they were surrounded by water.

The dogs were taken, four at a time, to parts of the yard that weren't submerged under water - a deck, a raised porch, an old foundation and other raised parts while the horses were taken to the field.

"Our feet were like blocks of ice," Hannah recalled of the water flowing into this boots.

After getting the dogs to their spots, Hannah and his friend went to find the horses - the water now rising to his waist in some areas - finding them in a set of willows in the field.

He walked about a kilometre up hill to get the horses to elevated ground.

"By this time, an ATV is useless," Hannah said.

With the animals in what seemed like safe areas for the time being, Hannah started making phone calls for help to search and rescue officials and the RCMP, but didn't get very far.

Search and rescue told him he first had to go through the RCMP, who told him they would see what they could do.

By that evening, when Hannah hadn't heard back from the RCMP, he called Faro search and rescue and was told officers had tried to make it down there but weren't able to make it in with a Rhino (a piece of equipment similar to an ATV), despite Hannah having told them the water was too high for an ATV.

"No one called to tell me what was going on," Hannah said.

Police noted in a statement: "RCMP responded that night and found portions of Blind Creek Road were already under water, and the Blind Creek Bridge was almost submerged.

"Volunteers from the emergency measures team were called late in the evening, but decided to hold off the evacuation until the next morning."

With a ladder ready for Hannah to climb to the roof and a canoe set to go if need be, Hannah remained awake through the night, checking the water level, which had dropped a little by morning and seemed to be at a steady level.

He phoned his friend, Henry Dyck in Ross River, who has an Argo, which can make it through water, as well as another friend, Leithe Minder, who has a kennel nearby for help.

Before they could make it to his place though, "All Hell broke loose," Hannah said as he remembered the sight of water flowing onto the property.

At that point, Hannah had to decide to leave. He got his three house dogs into his canoe after attempts by the animals to jump out, even capsizing at one point.

"This is getting life and death," he said.

He took off again and as he did, he saw buildings from the property, sheds full of mushing equipment, camping gear, skis and the like floating away as well as dog houses.

Hearing an engine in the background, he thought it was the Argo. At a point where he had reached a jam of trees and debris he couldn't get through, Hannah turned back, grabbing a fence post and hoping to remain there until his friend could find him.

He eventually had to decide to go and made it up the hill to dry ground and though he had a satellite phone, it wasn't within range to call the RCMP.

Finding his friends, he told them to turn back from rescuing the dogs because it was getting too dangerous, and if the ice went out, it would act as a drain, taking everything with it.

Eventually reaching him, Dyck tried to use his cell phone to call RCMP, but was also out of range.

That saw his friend Minder go to the detachment in Faro to plead with the RCMP to bring in a jet boat to get to the animals.

There, they found some dogs clinging to the sites they were perched on.

Two dogs had fallen through a crack, and though both were pulled up, one died from the injuries. Another two went missing, with one being found today when Jasmine went back to the property.

While Hannah appreciates the assistance of the RCMP, he said he believes it's something that could have been avoided earlier had the officers responded when he first phoned and told them of the situation and that an ATV couldn't be used.

As he pointed out, the waters, caused by an ice jam, are extremely dangerous and cold.

"You can die very, very quickly," he said.

The couple are now staying with friends in Faro and assessing the situation.

They have lost the organic garden which supplied them with a year's supply of food annually and which they also used to sell produce. They are also going to seek new homes for their dogs.

There's much work to be done in getting their water tested to make sure it's not contaminated, get a new supply of firewood, check their foundation (which he said appears to be OK at first glance) and, down the road, deal with the warped flooring and any other home repairs.

"It's just a mess," he said, noting again how grateful he is for good friends coming to his and Jasmine's rescue.

"These people were very, very helpful," he said.