SAN MARCOS, Calif. (KGTV) -- A former navy corpsman who's saved hundreds of lives says she was only doing, "What any American would do". Gina Austin could not take seeing the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. She packed up kayaks, jet skis and supplies and headed to Texas where she helped save people and pets.
Austin makes it sound simple. But she was elbow deep in devastation for a week. Her first rescue was a tiny one.
"We found a little Chihuahua and we were calling her baby girl," she said, noting that she worked with a rescue group to help save thousands of animals. "People had chained their animals up so we actually had to go in with bolt cutters. There were dogs just clinging to cars..."
At one point, Austin said she saw a family in a steel boat paddling toward her with shovels.
"And they asked… did anybody see a little Chihuahua?" Austin said.
The family was describing girl baby girl, her first rescue. That day, the family was reunited.
