Ben Weinman’s (ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan) Animal Sanctuary Flooded by Hurricane Ida Remnants

While we up here in the Northeast were spared the extreme worst of Hurricane Ida — our hearts go out to the folks in Louisiana and elsewhere devastated by the storm — we still got it pretty bad: the massive volume of rain from the storm’s remnants flooded thousands of homes and destroyed crucial infrastructure over a large swath of coastal states (take a look at this and this, as examples).

Among those affected: Ben Weinman, the guitarist formerly of The Dillinger Escape Plan and currently with Suicide Tendencies. Weinman has been running an animal sanctuary in his native New Jersey since retiring from Dillinger, taking in rescue animals of all types, including goats, sheep, chicken, pigs, horses, turkeys, ducks and more.

The bad news: extreme flooding — more like a river — depicted in a brief video Weinman posted to Instagram, caused extensive damage to his property. A tornado even touched down. The good news: all the animals made it through! He’s also enlisted a small army of friends to help get things back in order, and the process seems to be going well.

Posting on Instagram along with three brief video clips, he explained:

“Last night almost my entire animal pen was swept away and all the animals were loose in a tornado. I was lucky enough to get them all locked in the barn eventually. Today we woke up to chaos. My friends came to the rescue and worked all day with me to fix the fencing. I can’t believe how amazing these guys are. Community is everything and I’m so lucky to have these boys and all the awesome people checking in on us. Thank you @keithplumstead @vagrant_forever @brian.metz @franzturdenand @kevvonholt”

Those wishing to help out Weinman directly should consider joining his Patreon, where his own new music is made available first, along with other perks.

Speaking of new music from Weinman, he released a new song called “Fracas” last November. Give it a spin below.