Greg Toppo

USA TODAY

An informal network of good Samaritans with small watercraft is once again mobilizing — this time in the wake of unprecedented flooding in Houston.

Formed 12 years ago after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the so-called Cajun Navy, which has saved thousands of stranded people, by some estimates, is already helping rescue stranded Texans, one member said Sunday.

“There’s no telling how many are already over there,” said 39-year-old Joey Hains of Lafayette, La. “Basically everybody that’s wanting to go help out” is going or has already arrived, he said.

Louisiana’s ‘Cajun Navy’ sets sail in fishing boats to rescue flood victims

Hains said he planned to head to Houston, his boat in tow, at first light Monday.

“The reality of the Cajun Navy is everybody out here with a boat that isn’t devastated gets out and helps others,” Clyde Cain, who runs the Facebook page Louisiana Cajun Navy, told USA TODAY last August.

A ragtag group from the beginning, the Cajun Navy has long been nothing if not unstandardized: Guys with hunting boats, shallow draft duck hunting boats with mud motors, airboats, pirogues, kayaks. “You name it," said member Timmy Toups. “Everybody was wide open, going at it.”

In spite of a state lawmaker's effort last year to require training and permit fees, no one has taken an actual census of the group. Hains on Sunday estimated that there are hundreds of members, most from southern Louisiana — thus the “Cajun” appellation.

In response to the Houston flooding, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards sent a search-and-rescue team with from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reported on Sunday.

"I can't look at somebody knowing that I have a perfect boat in my driveway to be doing this and to just sit at home," Jordy Bloodsworth told The Advocate. "I have every resource within 100 feet of me to help.” He was headed to Texas overnight on Sunday.

Lately, the group has taken to communicating via the smartphone app Zello, a kind of digital citizens’ band (CB) radio. Hains added, “Just listening today, there were probably, just from this area, an easy 100 people.”

He said most members are working stiffs, but that the bad weather moving into Louisiana from east Texas means many of their workplaces will probably be closed on Monday anyway. “Most everybody, they have jobs and they’re just going out” to help, he said.

Remembering the kindness that Houstonians showed to Louisianans fleeing Katrina, he said he and his fellow boaters want to repay the favor. “We’re just more than willing to go and help wherever we can.”

They may be needed back home soon: The National Weather Service on Sunday issued a flash flood watch through Wednesday for much of southwest Louisiana. Rainfall is expected through the week across much of southern Louisiana.

Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo