Cajun Navy Turned Down After Helping Hurricane Florence Victims, Told There Are Enough Responders

By Aaron Kesel

According to the Cajun Navy’s Facebook page, the volunteer group ceased its activity in the city of New Bern, North Carolina after officials stated the situation was under control, ABC WBRZ reported.

Leaders with the group stated the decision was brought upon by officials at the city’s emergency operations center. The EOC further stated it was taking over rescue operations.

“Per a meeting with New Bern N.C. EOC, they said they will respond to ALL calls for rescue and evacuation,” the group posted to Facebook. “We are no longer in New Bern N.C. pending new area to stage and respond to calls.”

Members of the Cajun Navy were filmed helping with rescue operations in New Bern just hours earlier where they are said to have rescued more than 150 people from the torrential floods, according to Taylor Fontenot, the Texas captain of the Cajun Navy, Washington Post reported.

Todd Terrell, the founder of Baton Rouge-Lousiana United Cajun Navy, told the Herald-Sun they his group alone came with about 35 or 40 boats.

“The tide came up really strong — five to eight feet, they’re saying — and a lot of the people did not get out … got stuck in conditions on the roads,” Todd Terrell, the founder of the Cajun Navy, told ABC News. “So a lot of people we were rescuing from the tops of their vehicles.”

While Clyde Cain, admiral of the Louisiana Cajun Navy, based in Hammond, Louisiana, told weather.com his team of 20 men traveled to the Carolinas this week with 10 boats, Weather.com reported.

Around 310 people from nine different states are on the ground in New Bern, North Carolina, providing resources and manpower to first responders, ABC reported.

Early reports initially suggested the Cajun Navy was ordered to leave by New Bern city officials; however, a leader of the group clarified that they agreed to leave after being told there “were enough first responders.”

“WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU,” a tweet from the city overnight said. “You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU.”

The group said it is moving on with its 25 volunteers and 12 boats from the city stating it is moving to Wilmington, North Carolina.

“At this point, they have more search and rescue groups that have come in, so we’re moving on,” Cain said.

“We still have high winds,” Cain said. “Once we get to Wilmington, we’re going to have to wait and standby until these winds go down. We can’t put an airboat in the water with high winds like this.”

More than 750,000 homes and businesses mostly in North Carolina, are currently without power according to poweroutage.us, which tracks the nation’s electrical grid.

Cajun Navy was a rescue group formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which saw a lackluster response from the federal government.

Last year, the Cajun Navy rescued hundreds of people in Houston during the catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey. The Cajun Navy was even mentioned in President Donald Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address thanking them.

“Through it all, we have seen the beauty of America’s soul and the steel in America’s spine. Each test has forged new American heroes to remind us who we are and show us what we can be,” Trump said. “We saw the volunteers of the Cajun Navy racing to the rescue with their fishing boats to save people in the aftermath of a totally devastating hurricane.”

U.S. president Donald Trump praised the Cajun Navy in a tweet on Friday.

We love the #CajunNavy – THANK YOU! #FlorenceHurricane2018 pic.twitter.com/RuP55jWX8e

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2018

It’s questionable why the N.C. government is turning down free volunteering help. Maybe in some cases, it may be a safety issue; however, these people are doing so on their own accord. So if someone is hurt trying to rescue people it’s on them. With 750,000 homes without power and massive flooding, they need all the help they can get rescuing people one would think.

Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Support us at Patreon. Follow us on Minds, Steemit, SoMee, BitChute, Facebook and Twitter. Ready for solutions? Subscribe to our premium newsletter Counter Markets.

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