SORRENTO – A group of volunteer boaters, dubbed “The Cajun Navy” took their small but determined armada of boats onto the streets to help evacuate people from homes.
Dwayne Pack said he and his buddy Jeremy Freeman have been taking to social media to find people who need help.
“People posting on Facebook that they’re stranded and needing people with boats,” he said. “You feel hopeless when you’re sitting on the sheriff’s department for a 911 call because 911 is backed up and people are waiting to get in.”
Sometimes though, the people they find aren’t yet ready to be rescued. One family said they wanted to tough it out longer, another asked them to return if things get worse. Those requests aren’t always appreciated.
“No, it’s get in the boat now. This is not Uber.”
The Cajun Navy has been getting people out of homes since Saturday – hundreds of them.
“The people here work hard for what they got,” said Pack. “To see them lose it because of this… it’s hard.”
Among the people they’ve helped is the father of a murdered Baton Rouge police officer, who was ferried back to his home for medicine.
“Saving people from Baton Rouge Sunday that moved here because they moved here after Katrina, from Chalmette, thinking they were away from all this and losing everything again – it’s heartbreaking,” Pack said.