The Flotilla Nobody Organized

On August 12, 2016, floodwaters swallowed southern Louisiana. Before FEMA arrived, before the National Guard mobilized, something remarkable happened. Ordinary people — shrimpers from Lafitte, plumbers from Baton Rouge, retirees from Lake Charles — backed their fishing boats into the rising water and started pulling strangers off rooftops. They called themselves the Cajun Navy. No one issued orders. No one checked credentials.…