'You see the desperation in people’s eyes'

Cajun Navy rescuers help after Hurricane Harvey flooded Port Arthur Texas in August 2017. (Courtesy: Pinnacle Search and Rescue)

For members of the Cajun Navy, heroism is as simple as hearing a call for help – and racing toward the voice. Or watching on TV as a storm devastates an area and immediately working to get there, where there will be hundreds of others just like you. 

Also there, but out of sight in flooded homes, scared, scarred and fearing for their lives, are people hoping and praying you’ll find them fast. 

“You see the desperation in people’s eyes,” Ben Husser, a member of one Cajun Navy-style group based in Louisiana, told AccuWeather. “You’re the last line of hope and they know they need somebody and … you come pulling up in a boat -- or they hear the boat. It’s just an awesome feeling to know you were able to help somebody in their worst moment.” 

As the decade comes to a close, AccuWeather is revisiting some of the most extreme weather events of the last 10 years and highlighting the heroic people who carried out selfless acts during those disasters to help those in need. The Cajun Navy has answered the heroic call time and time again. 

The Cajun Navy is an umbrella name for up to a dozen or so volunteer groups consisting of private boat owners who assist in water-related search-and-rescue efforts and other charitable endeavors often tied to disasters. Members of the Cajun Navy will also help with smaller, but no less frightening, rescues of lost boaters or missing person calls. 

The Cajun Navy originated with a state senator’s media plea to help the people of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While 20 to 25 boats were expected to meet in Lafayette, between 350 to 400 boats showed up and rolled out in an 8-mile convoy on a two-hour journey to New Orleans. The first Cajun Navy rescued an estimated 10,000 people from flooded homes and rooftops. 

Called to duty again beginning in 2016, the Cajun Navy rescued people from extreme flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that year, and continued their work after hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Michael and other flooding tragedies in the Gulf South area since then. 

“It’s for people who can’t stand to sit down watching the TV seeing people in dire circumstances and knowing they have the immediate means to help them,” Tracie Allen, chief administrator of a group called Cajun Navy Relief, told AccuWeather. “Right now, I can get in my boat and I can get these people out of harm’s way.” 

The Cajun Navy rescued people from massive flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2016 and continued their work after hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Michael and other flooding tragedies in the Gulf South area since then. (Courtesy: Pinnacle Search and Rescue)

The Cajun Navy’s 2016 renewal led to tech-savvy approaches for many of the groups, whose members began using apps like Zello, a free internet walkie-talkie-style app and Glympse, a free real-time location-sharing app, to better coordinate with each other and lead rescuers to where they were needed.

Recent legal difficulties with some associated with the Cajun Navy name brought negative attention to the group, but not enough to damage the overall group’s well-earned reputation. “They have gotten bad press lately for individuals, but the groups are totally separate,” longtime Louisiana resident Chip South told AccuWeather. “They are still well-viewed down here,” added another Louisiana native, Ken Schexnayder. 

No one appreciates the Cajun Navy more than the people they are helping. 

“I cannot tell you how many times we have been told, ‘I just got finished praying for a miracle to happen, and my phone rang and it’s y’all offering to come help,” Husser, with Pinnacle Search and Rescue, told AccuWeather. “That’s when you know you’re doing something right.”