so the united cajun navy is there from the beginning to the end. we do things through the year to help different organizations, communities. when we -- when you see us roll in, we're there until the tarping is down. we have specialists that come in who are home builders. they're there to do this and get the community as whole as we can once again. >> neil: it's working. thanks, jennifer. hope you're safe and well. good talking to you. >> thank you. >> neil: i mentioned steve harrigan. i've known him from the beginning of fox. he goes into arm's way. if people are in harm's way, he helps the people out. he doesn't record them and take a look at the image. he gets involved if they need the help. that is steve harrigan. he was doing it and has been doing it quite a bit in florida where these on going rescues are continuing. steve, how are things now? >> neil, i think there's a tremendous effort here private and public. we're seeing the national guard here behind me. they're getting that raft ready. and about 100 yards past them is just a private vehic

brian, part of the united cajun navy helping coordinate the efforts.e your teams to the disaster zones? >> by now, they are in the thick of it, we prestaged in a few to towns around tampa and they started to move south as hurricane started to change tracks. last night, as does every single time with one of the disasters, when the sun goes down, people start calling 911 and when they can't get through, they start calling us. >> todd: how many people do you have at the ready? >> dozens of volunteers make up star teams, logistics teams and he hundreds of volunteers directly down to the west coast of florida as we speak. >> todd: when the sun comes up, what is your plan of attack today to help peep snel >> first of all, we'll follow-up on tickets that came in overnight, people stranded and be nothing their house and water started coming up, some people were trapped in parts of their house. for ones our teams haven't gotten to yet, assessment of which roads are passable, which towns and communities need the most hope to dwekt resources to the areas. >> todd

for those who don't know, what is the united cajun navy? ted cajun na collection of volunteers. we are based out of louisiana but we have going to a national network of folks with their own boats trucks and high water vehicles and now increased to aircraft, drones. we are just in puerto rico doing cargo drops out of airplanes to the southern parts of the island that were still inaccessible by. vehicles and like i said we are a first response organization -- we do what people think that fema and other parts of the government to, but don't really do,. we get there first and try to take care of media needs and try to save lives. >> right. it's my understanding of teams position throughout the area. what are you hearing from your teams on the ground? >> when we first started looking at the track that ian was taking, especially the wobble it took to more of the south and east, from a little bit south of tampa, which a lot of people thought tampa was going to be ground zero -- it turned out to be port charlotte. we knew this would be a very bad st

first met during hurricane katrina, in fact, that's when they were born they're known as the united cajun navy2005, also played a key role in recovery efforts after harvey in 2017 down in the houston area. remember the one that just rained for days? governor ron desantis welcomed the members and described them as battle hardened right now they're coordinating search and rescue missions across hard-hit areas. brian is with us now he's the cajun navy's vice president and spokesman. great to see you again and to see the amazing work that you guys do. what are you seeing on the ground here, brian what kind of needs are people faced with and what's the general sense of things? >> well, first of all, shep, great to see you we haven't seen you since you were on another network. appreciate you bringing us with you and wish you success in your new gig. you know, we are seeing -- i almost hesitate to ever compare other disasters to katrina because everybody knows what that was and being from new orleans, i know what that was but, shep, i got to tell you, i've been often referring to this as a katrina-li

and the cajun navy is also in florida tonight helping with the search and rescue. help me she's with the unitedst east of tampa. he should be saying we're not going to send crews out because we can't put them at risk. what are you seeing right now? are your rescue volunteers actually going out? >> we have a few on standby. we are currently not at the location. we are looking out for the safety of our team right now as well. >> yep, you've got to do the right thing. you can't risk their lives for others. i know you have volunteers across florida tonight, charlotte county as well as in sarasota. and we just heard someone from noaa who was talking about having gone through 76 storms and he's never seen anything like this. it is the strongest storm on record to hit florida's coast. does that change how your team is able to respond with search and rescue? >> no, ma'am, we just -- no, we just turn our rescue and make sure our safety is first, like i said. and we make sure if we get calls that we can go to those areas, but we just make sure everybody is safe. that's our main goal right now. >> absolut

as the -- here's brian trascher -- spokesperson for the united canadian navy told me earlier -- for those who don't know what is the united cajunection of volunteers, who are based out of louisiana, but who have grown to a national network of folks with their own boats, trucks, high water vehicles, now have increased the aircraft, drones. we are just in puerto rico, two and cargo drops out of airplanes, to the southern parts of the island. that was still unaccessible, by vehicles, and like i said, we are a pro approach response organization. we do what people think that fema and other parts of the government to but don't really. do we get there first and try to take care of their immediate needs and try to save lives. >> right. it's my understanding you have teams position throughout the area. what are you hearing from your teams on the ground? >> when we first started looking at the track that aim was taking, especially the wallet look took to more of the south and east, going a little bit south of tampa, which a lot of people thought tampa was going to be the ground zero. it turned out to be port charlotte. we knew this was g

he's with the united cajun navy, a volunteer group helping with fallen search and rescue efforts in the brian would've been a little accomplish so far? >> first of all, thanks for having us. if you look at young jed bartlett sitting in the headmaster's office who happens to be my father. great to meet you. we got to the tampa bay area few days ago with some of our logistic advance teams in search and rescue teams. we moved them overnight to the fort myers area. that's where we were getting a lot of the initial distress calls. one thing we always noticed, being from south louisiana, we've had our share of hurricanes, when it makes landfall in the daytime, there's usually a law, then once the sun goes down, people realize the powers it for real and it's dark, that's when they start trying to call 9-1-1. and the system gets overloaded, and they start calling us. >> what can you do going forward? >> so right now we are still performing search and rescues in the fort myers area and some of those outer lying barrier islands that you talked about on the broadcast right before this. we are also

. >> joining our coverage now is brian trascher, he's with the united cajun navy, a volunteer group helpingarch and rescue groups in the region. brian, what have you been able to accomplish so far? >> first of, all thanks for having us. a feel like a young jed bartlett sitting in the office who also happens to be my father. so, so in such a west wing geek. but great to meet you. we got to the tampa bay area of three days ago with some of our logistic advance teams and search and rescue teams. we moved him overnight to the fort myers area. because that's where we were getting a lot of the initial distress calls. one thing we always noticed, being from south louisiana, we've had our share of hurricanes -- is that when a hurricane makes landfall in the daytime, there is usually a low, and then once the sun goes down, and people realize that the power is out for real, and it is dark, that's when they start trying to call 9-1-1. and that system usually gets overloaded in they start calling us. >> what can you do going forward? >> so right now we are still performing search and rescues in the for

we will see boats and likely see the cajun navy come in, if they are not already on their way, everything possible, united states coast guard, all the administration from the federal government and state and groups that come in and volunteer to help, i can tell you this morning, at this dock, with the boats, i have seen some locals walk around with dogs that are smelling dogs that can try to sniff out whether there is an issue with a person, those are people, volunteers and boat owners are coming in, i see another gentleman on the phone right now shaking his head at the whole scene. i just -- bad as it gets and been on a lot of these. >> in our area with four seasons, you pull your boat outcome fall. for the most part in fort myers, you're boating 24 -- 365 days a year, if you want, is there a sense people had an option to pull their boats out? are there boat yards? >> robert: that's a great question, as you note, that is not a normal scenario for folks here, this is paradise, where if you live here, you have a boat, if you live somewhere else and have a home here, you come down here, so i think there was