HOUMA, La. — Disaster volunteers are hard at work trying to clear paths to some of the most heavily damaged areas in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Ida.
The United Cajun Navy shared a video of their teams moving tress with heavy equipment to get into Houma, a city southwest of New Orleans.
The United Cajun Navy is a team of citizens that started rescuing people with their own boats and supplies after Hurricane Katrina.
“These guys are hoping to get down there. Tons of people trapped in houses in Houma, tons of people a little bit south of Houma down there. This is a mess. This is, this is as bad or worse than Katrina,” said Todd Terrell, the founder and president of the United Cajun Navy.
Terrell had volunteers working overnight Monday to get into parishes that historically flood.
Communication is terrible with cell service struggling right now. They get word on social media and Wi-Fi intermittently of people needing rescue.
The United Cajun Navy also shared a video of a team leader from North Carolina who also works with the U.S. Veterans Corps helping a family in the middle of the storm. A tree had fallen on their house. Luckily, the team managed to get them to safety
“Leonard is the kind of person that when a disaster hits like this, he's going to be there,” said Terrell. “When we told him that the Galliano and Chauvin and Cocodrie areas were affected and we couldn't get to it, he says, ‘You give me a map and I’ll get there.’ And that's what they did at one o'clock this morning, so they're cutting telephone poles at the road, you know we've talked with some of the local sheriff and all down there and he said whatever you can do, just open the road.”
The United Cajun Navy is staging supplies and volunteers just outside Baton Rouge. You can donate or make a request for help as well for anyone in the area needing help through their Facebook page or website.
As for the homeless animals in Louisiana, the ASPCA helped evacuate some out of Ida’s path before the storm hit. Some 150 dogs, cats, and kittens were moved out of local shelters along the Gulf Coast and sent as far away as Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Helping clear impacted shelters frees up space for local pets that may be displaced.
