While Hurricane Michael was still swirling in the Gulf, hours yet from devastating the Florida panhandle, the Cajun Navy was already waiting for it. They had boats, trucks, chainsaws and other rescue gear with them, and were helping people evacuate as the storm unexpectedly and swiftly morphed into a monster.
The Cajun Navy is a grassroots response to professional rescue organizations like the National Guard and FEMA. They help fill in the gaps, especially when the professionals are overwhelmed by calls from people in need.
The Cajun Navy first set sail in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans 13 years ago. Nearly 400 volunteers drove their boats through the flooded city, rescuing over 10,000 people from rooftops and buildings.
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Since then, the Navy has reappeared during other natural disasters in the Southeast, mostly when federal response has fallen short. Over the past few years, they’ve added many more members and have become a more organized group. They’ve responded to hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Florence and now Michael. And they are out right there, as of press time, paddling through an unrecognizable landscape, sifting through debris, saving lives one by one.
People in distress can request help through the Cajun Navy’s Facebook page and through sites like CrowdSource Rescue, which was created in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The Navy also leverages the power of social media to crowdsource help when they need it: A senior citizens’ home needed a backup generator installed, and within 3 hours, this post asking for help had more than 200 shares and a dozen comments. According to the Sarasota Herald, the Navy received more than 3,000 requests for help within the first 24 hours of the storm.
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As we begin to assess the full toll of Hurricane Michael, the Cajun Navy will be there, alongside other rescue workers, no matter the risk or how blurry the legal line is. (They’re a citizen team of “neighbors helping neighbors” as opposed to legally recognized first responders, which means they don’t usually meet the legal requirements for entering a disaster area.)
But as Cajun Navy president John Billiot told CNN, “If me rescuing people, and saving people’s lives [means] I get arrested, I said that’s no problem. America will have my back.”
Tag: hurricanes
How One Man and His School Bus Are Saving Animals From Hurricanes
From the outside, it looks like a normal school bus. But inside, it’s a bustling animal shelter on wheels, with rows of dogs and cats in crates stacked two deep.
Tony Alsup spent this past week driving his bus to South Carolina shelters to rescue animals in the path of Hurricane Florence, which has caused 23 deaths and displaced more than 1 million residents as of publishing. So far Alsup has gathered 53 dogs and 11 cats and relocated them to shelters out of harm’s way.
“I’m like, look, these are lives too,” Alsup told the Washington Post. “Animals — especially shelter pets — they always have to take the back seat of the bus. But I’ll give them their own bus. If I have to I’ll pay for all the fuel, or even a boat, to get these dogs out of there.”
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Alsup never planned on becoming a chauffeur for dozens of animals in need. It all started with a misunderstanding on social media: When Hurricane Harvey was barreling toward Houston in 2017, Alsup saw a web post requesting help in bringing shelter animals to safety. Alsup volunteered, planning to carry a few dogs in the cab of his semi-truck. Meanwhile, the shelters assumed he could transfer dozens of animals in the body of the truck.
“You’ve got to be very careful what you say on social media, man,” he told the Greenville News.
But once he had given his word, Alsup felt he couldn’t back out. “So,” he reasoned, “why don’t I just go buy a bus?”
He spent $3,200 on a former school bus, tore the seats out to make room for dog crates, and hit the road. Since then, Alsup has been an essential force in helping rescue pets displaced by Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and now Florence.
Alsup has largely focused on the “leftover” animals — “the dogs with blocky heads, the ones with heartworm,” wrote one shelter on its Facebook page. “The ones no one else will ever take.”
“It’s so easy for people to adopt the small pets and the cuties and the cuddly,” Alsup said. “We take on the ones that deserve a chance even though they are big and a little ugly. But I love big dogs, and we find places for them.”
If you’d like to contribute to Alsup’s animal rescue efforts, you can donate via PayPal.
Florida’s Plan to Team Up for Disaster Response
It’s common knowledge that Florida is often subject to severe weather like hurricanes and super storms, which is why it may sound strange that the state has no process in place for emergency management teams other than keeping “a basic roster.”
So now, Florida is creating a credential process for a statewide disaster-response team in hopes of being able to deploy about 20 people to respond to emergency management issues ranging from super storms to terrorist attacks.
“In the past, these teams have been fire-rescue-heavy, and that does not always work,” says Ashley Davis, deputy operations chief of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Aside from asking lawmakers to approve nearly $80,000 for a position that would lead the credentialing process, the state is also emphasizing the need for a team to send to other states during emergency situations to ensure that they’ll return the favor, reports Emergency Management.
“If Florida does not periodically deploy our teams out of state on mutual aid, we are less likely to receive mutual aid support from other states during a catastrophic event,” reads a division funding request.
In fact, Florida’s 2004-05 hurricane season saw assistance from 750 emergency management employees across 36 states. While the credentialing program is new, Florida’s initiative is among the first and considered “more forward-looking,” explains Aaron Gallaher, a division spokesman.
Because of Florida’s vast experience with bad storms, states often turn to Florida for help with weather emergencies, according to Davis.
“We, unfortunately, have a lot of experience,” Davis says.
MORE: Hurricane Katrina Inspired This Man to Revolutionize Emergency Housing
A New Museum Exhibit Educates About Disaster Preparedness
From ‘superstorm’ Sandy in 2012 to the countless forest fires that ravage the West every year, natural disasters are increasingly becoming a large part of American life. As a result, combating Mother Nature when she’s at her angriest requires not just innovation, but education, too.
That’s exactly what a new exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. aims to do, according to Next City. Organized into categories of earth, wind, fire, and water, “Designing for Disaster” is educating visitors about the history of disaster relief and prevention, as well as what works and what doesn’t.
Tales of large-scale projects such as flexible staircase joints at UC Berkeley’s California Memorial Stadium will surely draw in visitors, though it is the hands-on demonstrations and focus on everyday solutions that this exhibit is making the most difference with.
As the Washington Post writes, “The exhibit’s most compelling demonstrations show how innovative engineering solutions can reduce the impact of disasters and, in fact, already are.”
Whether highlighting family disaster plans, showcasing earthquake drills, or using an interactive feature to help visitors learn about the durability of different roof styles, Designing for Disaster is spreading knowledge.
As Americans flock to our nation’s capital during the summer vacation months, they can learn how others are preparing for natural disasters. And with that education, perhaps they can educate members of their own communities on how best to prevent future damage.
After all, while you can’t avoid Mother Nature’s fury, you can make sure you’re ready to meet it head on.
MORE: The Competition for Disaster Relief Funds Heats Up