More than 100 volunteers from Texas headed to the Carolinas and Virginia to help with the rescue effort once Hurricane Florence made landfall.
A volunteer organization called America’s Cajun Navy says it sent more than 1,000 people to North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia ahead of Hurricane Florence.
“We are a search and rescue organization,” President John Billiot says, adding that they also have a K-9 team to “look for your loved ones.”
Billiot says America’s Cajun Navy sent “maybe 12-1300” people to the Carolinas and Virginia and “800, almost 900 boats” which come from across the U.S.
“The count goes up almost every 10, 15 minutes,” he explains.
Billiot says the organization completed 35,000 rescues during Hurricane Harvey last year.
For Florence, the group is focusing on a different figure.
“The number we’re worried about: zero,” he says. “We want to see the number zero: zero fatalities, zero injuries. That is our main number.”
Taylor Fontenot, the Texas captain of America’s Cajun Navy, explains that the “First seven days is usually search and rescue. First four or five days is usually human. Last two will be probably focused towards animal.”
Fontenot adds, “It all depends on the storm, and then days seven to ten goes into body recovery.”
Not everyone is hit the road. Billiot explains that “a few hundred” volunteers are staying in Louisiana and Texas just in case the storm affects the Gulf Coast.
The Cajun Navy was formed in 2003, following Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, and the group has continued to grow in numbers as it has assisted in search and rescue following hurricanes since that time.
Billiot says people interested in helping the group can reach out via their Facebook page. Those interested in donating can do so by visiting their website.
