Cajun Navy making rescues in Florida after Hurricane Ian
NEW ORLEANS — The Cajun Navy has come a long way since Eyewitness News first reported on a bunch of guys with boats helping during the 2016 St. James Parish floods. When Hurricane Ian went ashore, the group headed to Florida.
First responders feared they were getting in the way of emergencies, but during blue sky times, they made pre-arrangements with public officials in many states, and now deploy with them.
“I think the Cajun Navy is on the way, and OK, there we go. And look, we really welcome them, and those are really some battle hardened folks,” Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida said in press conference Wednesday as the storm approached.
Before Hurricane Ian hit DeSantis got preliminary word that the United Cajun Navy was heading his way, but the all-volunteer group of men and women, were already there, staging before the storm.
“We knew that the flooding was going to be bad. The wind damage was going to be bad. We knew there was going to be no electricity,” Brian Trascher, the Vice-President and National Spokesman for the United Cajun Navy said.
