On the first day of Harvey, I was out in a boat helping rescue folks in my neighborhood. It was a mess and so disorganized.
So I made a quick website (crowdsourcerescue.com) that night to help coordinate rescues, entered maybe 20 or 30 to try to get to the next day, went to bed, and woke up to thousands. We had gone viral overnight and people self-organized around our data and website to coordinate rescues.
All told we helped rescue about 30,000 people in Harvey, we then turned around and did the same thing in Irma and Maria. We had about 12,000 rescuers sign up on the site to help rescue their neighbors.
Waze was amazing during this whole process, particularly during Harvey and Irma. The real-time road conditions through Waze was a literal life saver! We integrated it directly into our site and rescuers used it to navigate flooded streets, blockades, and hazards in order to get to victims.
Rescuers would get on to the site, be matched with a rescue case, and a Waze map would be brought up that would help them navigate to the victim. We also used Waze to help navigate large supply convoys (including a few National Guard convoys) through the flooded or destroyed streets and get critical supplies where they needed to be.
Waze was absolutely integral to our efforts and we can’t sing its praises high enough. A whole bunch of survivors, rescuers, and supply trucks have Waze to thanks for saving the day. So go Waze!
