Hurricane Katrina: Inside The Biggest Rescue Mission In Coast Guard History

In August 2005, a Category 3 hurricane hit the Gulf coast, with winds raging between 120 and 140 mph. Despite a mandatory evacuation order, tens of thousands of residents remained, either unable or unwilling to abandon their home. An estimated 10,000 of those took shelter at the Superdome. Most others stayed in place. But as bad as the storm was, it was after the storm passed that things took a devastating turn. The levees surrounding the city failed, and in the days after Katrina made landfall, 80% of New Orleans ended up underwater. The rescue response was one of the largest the country has ever seen — thanks to the Coast Guard, around 34,000 people in the city were saved. One of those men was John Rice. A rescue swimmer with now over 20 years of experience, Rice was one of the first people on scene in the wake of Katrina, and he sat down with us to talk about the Coast Guard's rescue operation during those first few days.