Day 6 Encore: Ex-marine remembers Hurricane Katrina and rescuing his neighbours

Over 10,000 people in Louisiana were forced to abandon their homes this week after catastrophic floods devastated their neighbourhoods.

At least 13 people have died in the flooding, after roughly 26 trillion litres of rain fall on the state. 

The Red Cross is calling it the worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy. But for residents of New Orleans, it may bring back memories of the storm they lived through eleven years ago.

Families were forced to drive motorboats filled with their possessions through the flooded streets. One staggering video shows a woman being pulled from her car as it disappears beneath the water.

When the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina, ex-marine John Keller was living in an apartment building in central New Orleans. The building was quickly surrounded by water, leaving Keller and his fellow residents stranded.

Keller could easily have escaped. But instead chose to stay and help more than 200 people.

Last August, on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, John Keller joined Brent Bambury to share his story about fighting to survive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how that experience continues to affect him.

Click on the link above to hear Brent's interview with John Keller, which won a Gabriel Award in June 2016.