One early morning this summer, a waste management worker drove his normal trash pickup route. As Tony Maticic passed the window of Heartland Animal Shelter in Wheeling, Illinois, he noticed something strange. The garbage truck driver usually waves at a few cats hanging out on a window ledge while passing by. However, this time, there were dozens of cats piled up behind the glass.

ABC7 Chicago reported that Maticic knew something was wrong with the image, so the truck driver took action. Unfortunately, a pipe burst in the building overnight, filling the shelter floor with two feet of rushing water. It was too early for the animal shelter staff to arrive.

“Animals were standing in water all of their beds were wet,” the shelter’s executive director, Jenny Schlueter, told ABC7. “This isn’t a little accumulation of water overnight. This was a rushing river. It devastated our equipment, and devastated our cabinets. Animals were floating in the water. It was shocking.”

Once Maticic understood the building’s condition, he called authorities. Thankfully, firefighters and police officers arrived, and the animals were moved to an empty airplane hangar at Chicago Executive Airport, which Signature Aviation offered up.

“By the end of the day, the magnitude of how many animals were in there, and you might help,” Maticic said, “It was overwhelming. So I teared up on the way home.”

The animal shelter formally honored the garbage truck driver on July 3. Schlueter said that while dozens have been placed in foster care, the pets could be out of the building until the end of August.