I read this article about them in The New Yorker in 2017
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the Cajun Navy, the Conch Republic Citizen Navy, the Texas Navy, these are simply people helping people. forget the term “navy” as if it meant “paramilitary”. these are not miltias. (there may be some overlap if diagrammed on a Venn, I will admit).
during Harvey, the actual Mexican Navy, Armada de Mexico, was dispatched to assist in Texas (a state in estados unidas that repeatedly denies immigrants and rights to Mexican citizens).
so I take umbrage at the last paragraph of the New Yorker article you link:
people put their trust in other institutions (churches; self-organizing volunteer navies), and are more inclined to support anti-government politics. The stories of the storm and the navies exist on a libertarian skeleton. Through them, a particular idea of how society might be organized is coming into view.
look. my island, my home was slammed hard by Irma. I lost one boat and also had to totally rebuild my house. I will always give assistance by boat to my neighbors, my community, my Keys. if I can offer that to hard-hit communities within the range of my boats I will and it does not come from some bullshit notion of “Libertarian” anti-government rhetoric.
I dare say that that is also the attitude of my community.
“that’s all I have to say about that”
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Thanks, he did text latter to say that they expect to be out of power for 4 to 6 weeks. Which really sucks in the heat. I’ve had to do that for a week or so a couple times.
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Hey, I just linked to it, I didn’t say I agreed with it!
I actually thought twice about posting it after I skimmed the article to review it and noticed that in the last paragraph. Still, it seemed like an interesting and informative article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and personal experience!
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And it’s definitely not a dry heat out there!
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sorry to overreact.
I grew up in Texas, lived in New Orleans, Tampa and here in the Keys (among other places). hurricanes and tropical storms are real-life experience. citizen boat lifts (for a better phrase, maybe?) really are people coming together in a time of real need.
then we go argue with each other at the bar over politics and at school board meetings /s
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And it’s not done yet…
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/weather/ida-flooding-tornado-forecast/index.html
In New York City, almost all the city subway lines were suspended due to the flooding. The Metropolitan Transit Authority website said that only the “7” line and the Staten Island Railway were operating with delays.
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Nope
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The Gaurdian inventing the town of Narco, Louisiana is fun; maybe they’ll make a new Netflix series there
(it’s Norco and it’s a Shell oil company town that permanently looks like the sun never quite sets because the whole town is bathed in the orange glow of gas flames; the name is short for New Orleans Refining Co.)
and of course the hurricane didn’t help with the endless polution:
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Narco Town! It sounds like an SNL skit. But this “Cancer Alley” stuff is too much dystopical for me.
I saw the destruction today in the afternoon news. It was very impressive and sad. I was thinking about the people who lost everything and probably still have to pay one or two mortgages. The photos of the people standing in front of their ruined homes made me sad.
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On a side but related note.
Which charity do we think is the best to donate cash that will most benefit the victims?
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Damn.
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There’s some great sounding ones in this comment above. I suppose you could decide which strikes you as most worthy.
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Good job! What’s a hundred year event no longer applies anymore.
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I’m a climate scientist and on Wednesday night, I watched the rain outside my New York City window break the local record for the most accumulation in an hour. It was an event that caused catastrophic flooding and infrastructure failures across both the New York Metro area and a wide swath of the Northeast US, delivered by the remnant of a powerful hurricane that had visited even greater destruction on Louisiana a couple of days ago.
This is the point in the news cycle when I would normally be called upon to explain why, in a warmer climate, hurricanes and heavy rain events get more extreme.
I can’t do it. Not today. At this dystopian moment, I’m just not feeling it, and I don’t think I’m alone. I have many friends and colleagues who study extreme weather, in academia, government and the private sector. I think I can speak for many of us when I say we’re stunned.
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Well, at least there’s one small consolation among all the misery:
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September 2, 2021|
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Good morning. Remnants of Hurricane Ida barreled into the New York City region, killing at least eight people. And what happens when climate change comes to a small Southern town.
First, a note to readers: It’s been more than a year since I began writing this newsletter, highlighting the day’s most important stories and helping people make sense of them. My colleagues and I are able to do this only because of the unmatched breadth and depth of The New York Times’s reporting, produced by a newsroom of 1,700 journalists. And that reporting is possible only because of the support of our subscribers. I hope you’ll consider becoming one. You can subscribe here.
Damage in downtown Fair Bluff.
Climate bankruptcy
Fair Bluff is a small North Carolina town in an idyllic setting, amid cornfields and tobacco fields and alongside the verdant Lumber River. But Fair Bluff’s setting may also be dooming the town.
Like much of eastern North Carolina, it sits on a coastal plain, one that is increasingly vulnerable to flooding because of the rise in extreme rainfall and severe hurricanes spurred by climate change.
Almost five years ago, Hurricane Matthew flooded downtown Fair Bluff with four feet of water, buckling roads and destroying buildings. Three years ago, Hurricane Florence brought more flooding.
This summer, my colleague Christopher Flavelle traveled to Fair Bluff to see how it was recovering, and the answer is: not well. The high school, the grocery store and other shops never reopened after Matthew. Downtown storefronts sit vacant, with trash strewn about. The only local factory closed, too. The population, about 1,000, fell by half. Al Leonard, a town official, says the town may soon eliminate the police department — as well as his job.
“What started as a physical crisis has become an existential one,” Christopher writes.
Fair Bluff offers a worrisome glimpse into the future. The increasing frequency of extreme weather has left countless towns, in the U.S. and around the world, vulnerable to both physical devastation and economic insolvency.
Fair Bluff’s old Y.M.C.A.
In California, wildfires have destroyed much of several towns, including Greenville and Paradise. In Florida, a 2018 hurricane wrecked more than 80 percent of the homes in Mexico Beach. In Colorado, Boulder County has sued Exxon Mobil and another oil company over a devastating 2010 fire, saying that they should “use their vast profits to pay their fair share of what it will cost a community to deal with the problem the companies created.” And in Louisiana, North Carolina and other states, flood-prone towns like Fair Bluff are withering.
“Their gradual collapse means more than just the loss of identity, history and community,” Christopher explains. “The damage can haunt those who leave, since they often can’t sell their old homes at a price that allows them to buy something comparable in a safer place.”
What to do?
Many towns try to start again, often with help from government money. Fair Bluff is among them, with town officials hoping to rebuild downtown in a less flood-prone area and attract new businesses. Yet some residents have understandably decided to leave, also with help from government money. Rebuilding isn’t just expensive; it also often involves investing in a place at obvious risk of future destruction.
As the journalist Alexandra Tempus recently wrote for Times Opinion:
We are now at the dawn of America’s Great Climate Migration Era. For now, it is piecemeal, and moves are often temporary. … But permanent relocations, by individuals and eventually whole communities, are increasingly becoming unavoidable.
Some of the destruction from climate change is now unavoidable. The Earth has already warmed too much and will continue warming in the years ahead because of greenhouse gases. But there is still a very wide range of outcomes, from unpleasant if often manageable to truly horrific.
The House and Senate are putting together legislation meant to slow climate change, partly by subsidizing the use of clean energy and penalizing the use of dirty energy. To pass, the bill will need nearly unanimous Democratic support; congressional Republicans have signaled that they are likely to oppose it universally. Climate experts believe the bill could have a significant impact on greenhouse-gas emissions, especially in the electricity sector.
Cleaning up Fair Bluff’s old downtown will cost an estimated $10 million, which the town cannot afford.
For some places, though, it may already be too late to avoid a bad outcome. One of them is Seven Springs, N.C., a town about 100 miles northeast of Fair Bluff that Christopher also visited this summer. After each major flood in recent years, more people have left, and the tax base has shrunk further. Today, the town’s population is down to about 55.
Stephen Potter, the mayor, is hoping to replace some of the lost property tax by turning an empty lot into an overflow parking lot for some of the R.V.s that visit a nearby state park. “I really don’t want to be the mayor that presides over the death of Seven Springs,” Potter said.
For more photos from Seven Springs and Fair Bluff — as well as reporting from Princeville, N.C., the first town in America chartered by freed slaves, which is also threatened — click here.
The latest on extreme weather:
Flooding on Queens Boulevard. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency in New York City for the first time.Dakota Santiago for The New York Times
- Remnants of Hurricane Ida barreled into the New York City region, halting rail service and flights, and raising a tornado warning in the Bronx. At least eight people have died.
- Buses turned into amphibious vehicles and subway stations roared with water: Here are the scenes from New York.
- Fuel shortages are compounding the misery in Louisiana, which endured its third day of power outages after Ida.
- Has climate change altered your life? Share your story with The Times.
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