I live up in North Texas and would be willing to go down and help with my boat, but as I've never assisted in a situation like this, I'm kinda lost on all the logistics. First off, how do you even make it to where you can help. I have a brother in law who is a trooper and was dispatched down there yesterday, however they can't even get down there due to the flooded roads. Secondly, I assume you need to pack as much water and food as you can carry and plan on sleeping in your pickup. Also, what about gas? if I fill up 10 gas cans, and leave them in the back of my truck, it would seem like a pretty easy target to walk off while you were out on the water. Or do they have gas available for volunteers? Does anyone have any info they can share. I'd just like to be prepared as possible before taking off down there.

They will have you come to a particular road or area. If the road is flooded, that is where you float off, in the road. You have to traverse roads and neighborhoods on the boat. The logistics of service is not always in place, often they will bring in a tanker truck to fill rescue vessels as electricity is off and there is no way to use gas stations. You need gas cans on the boat as you have no idea how far until your next fill up. Bring paper maps if you have them. Rescue is sectioned by the responders and you have specific neighborhoods to work. You will be coasting over cars, mailboxes and such, so metal boats are preferred but they will take all assistance. Usually law enforcement or national guard will manage an area to prevent blatant theft, but minor theft still occurs. Take a pistol, we always were required to be armed as there are those who may try to take whatever you have in the wake of the disaster.

Thanks for the information. I was planning on going down with a 18' flat bottom tracker. I wish I had a bigger metal boat to haul more people, but I'm not going to risk bringing the Skeeter. I will just call that number the Houston police dept put out for the boat volunteers and see where help is needed. Thanks again for the help.

Ya my nitro prob won't work. I have a aluminum outboard I'm trying to get from El Paso to San Antonio. Thinking of heading out there wed pm or Thursday to Monday. If anyone needs someone to join them for those days email me. I can use my truck for extra luggage and supplies. If anyone has some inside info let me know. # Live in Allen. 39 year old registered nurse# email me dahooper.rn@hotmail.com


Please post any inside info on forum. I say we get a dallas convoy rolling.

http://1079ishot.com/cajun-navy-members-shot-at/

Rescuers are reporting being shot at and overwhelmed by people attempting to take boats from rescuers and refusing to wait as to not overload a boat and sink it.

If you respond to assist, you MUST be aware of what awaits. Help if you can, people need you, but you must be prepared to deal with attackers and those who will not listen and have to be physically prevented for putting others lives at risk.

not trying to discourage anyone from wanting to help but if you have a nice bass boat an go down there an get some damage the insurance co might not pay to have it repaired I would call your agent before getting to deep into this .

website to use was posted by the cajun navy instead of walkie talkie program http://www.houstonharveyrescue.com/

I am in Dallas and have 14' G3. Wont be able to go until Thursday if still needed by then. Has anyone organized a convoy? First time at something like this, sounds like would be best as a team. Im solo and would like to go with a group to stay safe.

I'm still debating on weather or not to go. I would like to join up with a group of guys as well in order to not go down alone. However, I think if you were to go down alone, it sounds like you could fall in with a group pretty quickly. If I end up going it will be tomorrow afternoon. My plans were to head to Katy and help around the addax/ cinco ranch area. From what I've gathered, the rally point is at the academy off I-10 and 99. It also sounds like most people are taking 290 from austin to get to Katy, then coming down either 99 or 8. However, I have not gotten confirmation on if 99 or 8 is open to katy. I figure if I can't get to katy, then there is plenty of help needed in Cypress as well.

My story is similar. Thinking of leaving tomorrow. Sounds like plenty of help needed... problem is driving to where it is. Still debating location and time. I have 16 foot aluminum with 40 merc.

Have heard road closures making things interesting for responders.

I want to go down this weekend with my boat, a couple of guys, and an RV full of supplies. But I cannot get ahold of Harris County or Volunteer Houston to find out exactly where to go to be most helpful.

I do have a list of Rally Points. Should I just head to the nearest one?

Just give it to the firemen and tell them to share. First responders haven't been fed in many cases. For days...

We went down there Monday, so I can provide some insight.

We connected with Harris County on the way down and were dispatched to a rally point in the Woodlands, before we got there we were called back and diverted to a second point because the first had been washed out. Then we were diverted yet again due to roads flooded. We found yet another road flooded out that the S.O. wasn't aware of, even though a deputy was blocking the road. So that's just how bad communication at the base level was at that time. We, us and five other boats, did make it into a neighborhood that was flooded, and water was rising, but nobody wanted to leave. After giving them an hour to circulate word through the neighborhood and still nobody wanting to leave, we all pulled out. I heard dispatches yesterday that were sending boats back in there, as the water was now threatening the second floors of the houses.

After pulling out of that situation, and realizing that roads we came in on were now flooded, we became concerned and only sought to find a route out so we wouldn't become part of the problem. My buddy that was with me quickly became agitated and developed a very defeatist attitude, wanting nothing but to go home. I was irate, but what could I do? So I headed back home that night to drop him off with plans to head back down asap. If nothing else, I learned a lot about that guy.

I woke up yesterday and started doing research, and found a phone app called "Zello" that the cajun navy and Texas navy uses to establish channels for comm's. Through them, I found another channel called "VV Friends" that is being used to dispatch boats to areas in need, and providing rally point info as well as launch sites, as accurately as they can anyway. I listened in on it for a few hours yesterday morning and realized that the logistics of moving around were still severely hampered by flooded roadways, and figured it best to hang around and see how things developed. As the afternoon wore on, it sounded like organization and communications were getting better, so I decided to head out this morning.

I woke this morning and immediately fired up zello. The info on rally points and launch sites is now much more concise, but now it seems the problem is, there are so many people down there with boats wanting to help, that when a launch site or rally point is announced, it literally gets overwhelmed with volunteers already in the immediate area to the point that the authorities start waving people off. Then another gets announced, same thing.

Now, with the water, at least in some areas, receding, the bigger boats aren't able to help as much, and they only want really lightweight or extremely shallow running boats in most areas. Last I heard the big boats are being asked to go to Beaumont and Port Arthur, and a steady stream of info requests still coming in from volunteers with smaller boats needing to know where to go in the Houston area so they can be of help.

So, I have decided to hold off on making another trip because I honestly think that there are so many people down there trying to help that they are overwhelming the rally points and launch sites. I am not up to speed on the situation in Beaumont or Port Arthur, last I heard was they needed big boats to help out closer to the coastline and Sabine lake where waves were swamping smaller craft.

As for logistics, if you do decide to go, you better have anything you might need to survive for the time you plan on being there, recovery gear, and your own fuel. A lifted vehicle is almost mandatory. I took my 2wd burb so we could secure our supplies (which is necessary as well), and ended up driving through water halfway up my door at one point, a big mistake on my part, but we made it.

My advice, don't go down there on a half-cocked plan. If yo do, you'll end up coming home or being part of the problem. I feel we were truly prepared, and in good shape to help if we'd had some logistical help in navigating road ways and announcing the launch points/rally points (which is now in place). Honestly, I would still be there had it not been for my buddy and his sudden drastic change in attitude. I would have gone north enough to be out of danger for the night, slept in my burb, and headed back in the next day, and it would have payed off when we found that zello app had we done so.

I'm not advising anyone not to go. Just don't think you are going to run down there, drop your boat in the water on a nicely built boat ramp and be pulling people out of the water within an hour. That simply isn't the reality of the situation. It will be a frustrating process, maybe outright maddening, even finding out where to go, how to get there, and then possibly being turned away once you get there. The one outing we made, I had to launch my boat in a bar ditch with my trailer hanging into it at about a 45 degree angle, then load it the same way. But I was prepared to take some damage if it meant helping people. As I expected, and my buddy found out all of the above, it is not to be looked upon as an adventure.

Good luck to anyone who does go. Be prepared, be safe, and be armed.

The rescue efforts and aftermath will go on for quite a long time.

If you don't go now, you can always go later once Houston and it's Harvey are no long headline news.

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