Cajun Navy rides to the rescue of hungry family

Posted at 5:50 p.m.

Leo Malveaux and Rachel Ross had been between paychecks when Hurricane Harvey hit.

They couldn’t afford cases of pop tarts and water, like many did in Houston in the days leading up to the floods. When water started seeping into their first floor apartment on the north bank of Braes Bayou, they broke into an unrented apartment on the second floor.

“We were fearing for our lives at that point,” said Malveaux, 41, an electrician who moved the family down from Arkansas two months ago for a job.

They stayed there overnight, with three young children and no food or furniture, as neighbors were rescued in baskets from helicopters.

Finally, Ross found information about a Facebook group run by a group of guys from Louisiana who call themselves the Cajun Navy. On Monday, they called for help, and were rescued within 30 minutes.

Upon arriving at a transitional shelter at Crosspoint Church on Bellaire Boulevard, they fell upon the stacks of pizza and snacks, more hungry than they’d ever been.

“I almost choked on this pizza,” said Ross, who works in sales.

Having dried off and grabbed some extra clothes from the piles stacked in an auditorium, they waited for their next ride, this time to the city’s mega-shelter at George R. Brown.

Their car is flooded, but they still have their jobs. Malveaux’s employer at least gave him 40 hours paid time off, to get him though the week.

“That took some pressure off,” he said.