‘Cajun Navy’ Gearing Up to Respond to Hurricane Dorian

The Cajun Navy resue team patrols flood waters in Lumberton, North Carolina, on September
ALEX EDELMAN/AFP/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

The “Cajun Navy” is gearing up to respond to the impacts of Hurricane Dorian, but volunteers are still unsure where they will respond first.

The volunteer group — which made a huge impact in years past responding to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, coming to the aid of those in need after the Louisiana floods of 2016, and assisting with the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Florence, and Michael in 2017 and 2018 — is now preparing to respond to the impacts made by Hurricane Dorian. However, the storm’s uncertain path has left details of their response plan up in the air.

“Our first group is probably going to leave Monday or Monday night,” Cajun Navy volunteer Ben Husser said, according to WAFB.

Husser said his team is currently eyeing three to four locations and looking to help those, specifically, who are less accessible and have fewer resources.

“A lot of states are self-sufficient. You take an area like Florida that has so many boaters. Finding people, citizens that are willing to help it’s a little bit easier,” Husser said.

“You take some of the areas that necessarily don’t have that, North Carolina, for instance, has a lot on the coast, but when you go inland, you’re not going to have that as much,” he continued.

“So, we work more closely with those areas because they don’t have those resources,” he added. “And that’s what’s great about us, we act as that additional resource.”

Hurricane Dorian is expected to skirt the eastern seaboard, but it is currently pummeling the Bahamas and moving west at a one mph pace. The northeast coast of Florida — as well as the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas — remain in the cone of uncertainty:

“I think right now it’s just like throwing darts and I’m not very good at throwing darts,” Husser said, as reported by WAFB. “So, we’re just playing it by ear to see where we end up at.”

The United Cajun Navy currently has members in Jacksonville, Florida, assisting with hurricane preparations.

WLOX reports:

The organization’s founder, Todd Terrell, said the group is there gathering and distributing supplies, and has partnered with a US Veterans Corps team who will be providing high-water vehicles. Another team is preparing in Kissimmee and St. Cloud to handle animal rescue, Terrell said.

President Trump praised the Cajun Navy following its response to Hurricane Florence last year:

The National Hurricane Center is expected to release another advisory 5 p.m. ET:

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