The United Cajun Navy said Hurricane Ian is comparable to Katrina. Spokesperson Brian Trascher said overnight they assisted with more than two dozen rescues in the Ft. Myers area and their work is far from over.
“I feel comfortable calling it a Katrina-like event, there’s a lot of shock and awe, it’s still going on and people are still being extracted from high water areas, we need all the help that we can get,” said Trascher.
There are about 20 to 25 United Cajun Navy members from the Florida chapter conducting rescue efforts and Trascher said more members are en route to assist. He said their main focus at the moment is moving individuals who’ve been flooded out of their homes to a truck stop so they can be transferred to shelters.
“Of course, they don’t have levee systems, things like that, like we do in south Louisiana and frankly that part of the west coast of Florida hasn’t been hit like this in a century, they usually escape this,” said Trascher.
Trascher said if you have friends or family members in the Ft. Myers area that need to be rescued or even a wellness check, he said to do what you can to find the coordinates of their location versus an address.
“Cause a lot of times in the aftermath of a storm, you don’t have street signs you don’t have landmarks that you’d normally have, sometimes GPS isn’t working. If we get actual coordinates, we can send it to our search teams so they can
In addition to rescues, Trasher said the United Cajun Navy is also doing what they can to clear roads so the National Guard and Army Corps can move in logistics teams of electricians and linemen.
To donate or for volunteer information visit UnitedCajunNavy.org.
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