Alaska cat named Leo reunited with owners almost month after their home collapsed into flood-swollen river

A pair of Alaska teachers needed good news after they lost nearly all their possessions when their house collapsed into a river swollen by a glacial-outburst flood and their cat went missing.

Elizabeth Wilkins was holding onto hope that if any animal would survive the house falling into the Mendenhall River on Aug. 5, it would be Leo, the couple's resilient, big-eyed, black-and-white cat who shows no fear of bears.

"I knew that he's pretty smart, and so I felt pretty confident that he would escape and be OK somewhere," she said.