they are nobody as the cajun navy -- known as the cajun navy.sident, sean booth roe, joins me on the phone. thanks for taking the time. >> thank you guys for having me. charles: describe to audience just how many volunteers you've assembled, and what's the game plan here? >> gotcha. so right now we've got a crew together in iberia parish as requested by their eoc, their emergency operations center. we meet the needs of what they ask for, but we have got many, many more, if not hundreds, who are on standby waiting for a call for us to say, hey, there's more going on than we have assets for, we need more help. so we haven't made a massive staging area outside of these smaller agreements that we have, but we have several small agreements across the state with boats in those areas to deploy and more on standby. charles: sean, during katrina a state senator put out a call on the radio, we need anyone with boats, and os tensing by, i think that was the genesis of your organization. you guys have saved literally thousands of lives through many storms a

>>and the cajun navy have been are angels for many many years around here. >>for the last few days city officials had been urging people in orleans to shelter in place but earlier today they began urging some people to voluntarily evacuate particularly from the eastern part of the city where they are not protected by the levee system in orleans kind of fall now back to you. >>want to go live to new york we have a live picture from the city there you go and you can see the camera started just a little bit looks like the waves are ripping up against the shoreline there as data bad weather moves closer and closer to normal yet mabrisa how close is the storm hitting landfall. now. yeah, it's pretty close now just a few hours away expected to make landfall early saturday morning. >>and it's also strengthening as well it was at first earlier today expected to remain a tropical storm but now it is expected to reach hurricane one category status. as you can see the outer bands of that storm already bringing widespread rain throughout new orleans and also throughout

leland: we know the cajun navy is standing by as well. senator, we appreciate your time is always think you so much, sir. >> thank you. leland: stay safe. kristin: the lights are on in new york city after a large power outage leaving parts of the city in the dark for hours of saturday night and now investigators are searching for the cause. jackie heinrich with the latest or do have any idea what caused this? reporter: the power company blamed it on a mechanical failure. 73000 accounts were in the dark with hundreds of thousands of people impacted, some trapped in elevators and dark subway stations. of the blackouts and 30 blocks from in town manhattan to the upper west side and lasted from before 7:00 p.m. to nearly midnight your traffic lights went dark , billboards in times square shut off and police had to direct traffic by hand stores, restaurants cashed out customers unable to ring out transactions and hotels in theaters issued evacuation. governor andrew cuomo urging people not to go outside because of the potential for chaos. madi

>>and the cajun navy have been are angels for many many years around here. >>for the last few days now city officials have encouraged people to shelter in place at their homes but earlier today they started encouraging some people live in the eastern part of the city of new orleans to voluntarily leave that area, those are areas that are not protected by the levee system live in new orleans kind of how now back to you. >>all right connor we want to take a another live look out at what's happening in louisiana, this is jefferson parish you can see the camera shaking actually this picture shows a lot more activity from the storm then we saw behind live picture, the waves are battering the coastline there and the winds are pounding the coastline as well so we do want to talk more about what's happening with barrett jefferson parish is right on lake pontchartrain and you if you've ever been in new orleans and flew in there that's where the airport is in jefferson parish so. >>murray said very active scene down there. >>yeah very active. but there is some relief

volunteers with the cajun navy are in position with rescue boats ready for action. >> we go out therend we rescue people and come back. >> the governor says the state is much better prepared, but officials are calling it a life threatening storm. >>> a local developer took the homeless issue into his own hands by offering cash to get people out of here. >> 12 babies born to one northern california fire department in the last year. >> all is well now, but there were times dads weren't sure if they would ever meet their newborns. >>> putting the sizzle back into summer. here's a look at what's coming up on jimmy kimmel live. >>> watch this if it's the last thing you do. >> i gave her a fireworks display. >> is that what ♪ ♪ this is how driving should feel. the tech-advanced nissan leaf. the best selling electric vehicle of all time. this is nissan intelligent mobility. ♪ ♪ here i go again on my own ♪ goin' down the only road i've ever known ♪ ♪ like a-- ♪ drifter i was ♪born to walk alone! you're a drifter? i thought you were kevin's dad. little bit of both. if you ride, you get it. gei

todd: cajun navy born out of hillary clinton katrina.st one have you had to deal with since hurricane katrina and rita. what did you learn from that overall experience in 2005. >> in 2005, i wasn't involved with the efforts of the cajun navy. i came on board in 2016 when a flood very similar to this -- circumstances very similar to this created a flood in denim springs, livingston pair return. parish. areas surrounding baton rouge. walkie talk qua. mobile g.p.s. tractors. tree technology to coordinate ourselves and be effective in the field. jedediah: have you volunteers in seven states. you make such a tremendous impact on these communities. i wonder what the response is. in this up stance you will be delivering sandbags people handicapped. veterans, people who are disabled people who can't get those sand bags themselves. you do so much on the ground what is the reaction from people to the amazing work do you? >> it's wonderful to see and interact with people and to get the responses. it's very heart-warming and i think that's really wh

volunteers with the cajun navy are in position with rescue boats ready for action. >> we go out there we rescue people and come back. >> the governor says the state is much better prepared, but officials are calling it a life threatening storm. >>> a local developer took the homeless issue into his own hands by offering cash to get people out of here. >> 12 babies born to one northern california fire department in the last year. >> all is well now, but there were times dads weren't sure if they would ever meet their newborns. >>> putting the sizzle back into summer. here's a look at what's coming up on jimmy kimmel live. >>> watch this if it's the last thing you do. >> i gave her a fireworks display. >> is that w that leave therea lasting impression. like the feeling of movement as a new journey begins, or the sight of soft fur, warmed by the morning sun. you might remember new flavours, or a view that defies all expectations. these are the memories that stay with you, long after the moments have passed. a van that changed us and chips forever. so thanks, keeper of the keys for a chan

we did speak to a leader of the cajun navy who says they are prepositioning boats nearby if anyone needs help, or even being rescued. so it's a developing story here. it's fluid, to put it quite literally. >> morgan cesky from baton rouge, louisiana. we're going to touch base with you later as barry makes its way towards you. meteorologist michelle grossman also with us this hour. you are watching the reports here, michelle, and the video, the pictures of both the water that was there at the mississippi, the inundation that mariana atencio was showing us is plaquemines parish. and what appears to be the sand or marbles or stones that were going to be used to maybe shore up certain levees. what are you seeing from the reports that is consistent with what you're seeing on the satellite dishes? >> so we continue to watch the rain. that is the major headline. i think they both hit the nail on the head. this is just starting. this is going to be a 48-hour event or at least the next 36. we're going to see pictures that are catastrophic in some spots over the next couple days. certainly somethi

resilient and during the storm we evacuated our neighbors with the help of our friends from the cajun navy, volunteers from across the country, the texas national guard, and the u.s. coast guard. as soon as the waters receded we got to work on recovery. while we are grateful for the assistance from fema, we must always ask ourselves how we can do better. is our role to review the activities of federal agencies and determine what we can do better. that is part of our oversight role in congress and on this committee. while 2017 was an unusual year because of the unprecedented number of disasters, including the hurricanes and the california wildfires, fema must be prepared for all disasters regardless of their frequency. fema assists with disaster recovery utilizing three different methods. after hurricane katrina in 2005, fema began using advance contracts for goods and services it typically needs in a disaster. the agency also provides help through post-disaster contracts and public assistance grants. in the 2017 disaster season, many of the post-disaster contracts were for power distributi

we're with united cajun navy they're giving an assessment of the area.rescue they're here and that's the spirit we've seen in the state of louisiana. people helping people out especially in time of need. >> sandra: thank you. >> bill: there was an investigation underway into a saturday night blackout that left much of mid town manhattan in the dark for five hours. power company says it will take several weeks to determine the cause of the outage that led to the evacuation of hundreds trapped in elevators, subways at a stand still. broadway shows and concerts canceled which led to some entertainers taking to the streets saying the show must go on. very cool outside carnegie hall. the new york city mayor bill deblasio facing criticism he was in iowa for the "new york post" and daily news slamming him for staying in iowa for the blackout when it hit the city. he was on a campaign trail. >> sandra: the performers that took to the street despite the blackout. the show must go on. that's new york. >> bill: i had the good fortune of being out of town. >> sandra