A cat who was assumed dead after being swept away by Hurricane Helene managed to find his way back home.

On September 27, Nancy Collins and her family were preparing to leave their property in Burnsville, North Carolina, because of rising floodwaters brought on by Hurricane Helene.

However, before she and her son Jonathon left, they spotted their beloved cat Ricardo Blanco in a perilous position: The feline had found his way on top of one of the family campers.

“The water level was already too high to rescue him. The camper Blanco was on top of began floating down the river and hit the next-door neighbor’s house,” Collins told Newsweek.

 “Blanco jumped from the roof of the camper to the distribution line onto the house. Jonathon saw Blanco try to climb the metal roof. Blanco managed to make it three-quarters of the way up the roof before sliding down and into the swirling water,” she continued.

“My heart sank. I felt immense sadness at how helpless we were to help him,” Collins said. “Jonathon immediately began running on the high path to try to save him but was stopped dead in his tracks by a power line that fell in front of him.”

Though she prayed for her cat’s safe return, Collins assumed they would likely never see Ricardo Blanco again.