BENTON COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Lots of people experienced a variety of damage and some scary situations as severe storms came through Northwest Arkansas on Thursday.

Hail came crashing down, causing some people and pets to take shelter.

“It’s not my first time to have to do dogs during a tornado, so, wanted everyone to be aware of what we need to do. And we did do that today,” said Chelsea Caspermeyer, co-owner of The Ruff Inn in Gravette.

PHOTOS: Severe weather leaves damage in Northwest Arkansas, River Valley

She says the shelter had seven dogs at the pet boarding service during the storm, and the staff worked quickly to get them in a safe and quiet area.

“Our area did not have any windows. We have concrete walls,” Caspermeyer said.

She says the dogs were doing well, although they had to medicate some dogs before the storm started.

“We were calm, the dogs were calm. We rode it out. We heard the sirens,” Caspermeyer said.

She says these dogs are like family to her and she would hate for anything to happen to them.

Caspermeyer says the best thing you can do for dogs is to stay calm, pet them, and assure them that everything is fine.

“Let’s all make this a happy moment. We’re going to have some treats in here, and then before you know it, we were sitting in there just relaxing and they had all fallen asleep,” Caspermeyer said.

While they were safe inside, the storm caused boats to flip over and some were even pushed away from the Hickory Creek Marina in Benton County.

“I’ve seen the pictures. They’re not letting anybody in there, but it’s a mess,” said Chris Nogy of Rogers.

Trees and power lines were also ripped from the ground.

“It looks like it was just all knocked over pretty clean,” Nogy said.

He was on his way back from picking up his son from school in Rogers when he heard the alarm for a tornado warning.

“We came home, and it was just raining here, and all of a sudden, it got louder than I’m used to hearing from storms out here,” Nogy said.

Nogy says the wind slammed his doors closed and knocked out his power.

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