In the days after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, thousands of people remained trapped in flooded New Orleans as rescue and evacuation efforts struggled to keep up.
Among them was 20-year-old Jabbar Gibson. According to Gibson and multiple contemporary reports, New Orleans police told him and others they could take an abandoned school bus and leave the city. Gibson got behind the wheel and began picking up stranded residents, including families with young children, as he drove through the flooded streets.
The passengers pooled what little money they had to buy fuel and diapers during the 13-hour journey to Houston. By the time they reached the Astrodome, around 50 to 70 evacuees were on board, making it the first busload of Katrina survivors to arrive there ahead of the official evacuation convoys.
Officials initially refused the group entry because they were not part of the organized evacuation from the Superdome. After about 20 minutes, the evacuees were allowed inside.
Gibson’s journey remains one of the lesser-known stories from Hurricane Katrina, illustrating how some survivors relied on their own initiative to escape New Orleans during the disaster’s chaotic aftermath.
It’s kids like him that give us all hope…
Stole from that fine Blog – The view from lady lake