At least one local man has hit the road with his boat to help victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
Bobby McGinnis of Tylertown left Monday to join a group known as the Cajun Navy. McGinnis has been involved in Walthall County rescue work for years and wanted to help out in Texas.
“I was ready, so I fell in with the ‘Cajun Navy,’” he said, referring to a group of Louisiana-based volunteers.
“I wanted to go with local folks and I just couldn’t find anybody. I got online and the Cajun Navy was gathering up folks.”
Volunteers met at Costco in Baton Rouge on Monday morning and headed west at 1 p.m., stopping in Lafayette, La., to regroup.
McGinnis has worked with the fire department in Tylertown for 30 years and served as a river rescuer as needed.
“Any time we have a river rescue they called me and my buddy Les Lampton for that,” McGinnis said.
He’s pulling an 18-foot Blue Wave flatbottom boat with a tunnel hull.
“It will go in real shallow water, real wide. It’ll handle probably six to eight people real well,” McGinnis said, noting the boat is propelled by a 150-hp motor.
He’s also carrying first aid equipment and was assigned another volunteer from Mississippi.
Market Max in Tylertown is helping sponsor McGinnis with fuel and funds.
The Cajun Navy is picking up more volunteers as it heads west.
“They said by the time we reached the Texas line, we’d have 100 boats,” McGinnis said.
McGinnis said Texas authorities will turn away rescuers not affiliated with an officially recognized group. Officials there will coordinate groups like the Cajun Navy, sending teams where needed.
“They’re grouping us together as far as the boat types we have,” McGinnis said. “When we arrive, they can send us off in the direction we need to go.”
He’s planning for an open-ended stay.
“I brought enough clothes and supplies, and they’re supposed to be supplying us.”
McGinnis said dramatic news reports prompted him to get involved.
“Last night on the news I saw one apartment complex with 1,000 residents, and that whole complex was underwater,” he said Monday afternoon in a phone interview on the road. “None of the vehicles could get them out.”
He also saw footage of elderly people and people in wheelchairs stranded by floodwaters.
“Those (Texans) need our help,” McGinnis said. “We’re going over there to help them.”
