Marie Morrissey

One of the first buses to arrive in Houston after Hurricane Katrina was driven by a 20-year-old who had stolen it to help evacuate people from the disaster. The man behind one of the first buses to escape New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was 20-year-old Jabbar Gibson. On August 31, 2005, as floodwaters engulfed the city and conditions at the Louisiana Superdome deteriorated, Gibson found an abandoned school bus with the keys still inside. Instead of waiting for delayed rescue efforts, he took the bus and loaded around 70 stranded people—including children, elderly residents, and families—to get them out of the disaster zone. Driving for nearly seven hours through flooded roads, storm debris, and police checkpoints, Gibson safely reached Houston, Texas. When the bus arrived at the Astrodome, officials initially assumed it was part of an organized government evacuation before discovering Gibson had acted entirely on his own. Although taking the bus was technically illegal, his actions were widely praised, and he was celebrated as a hero for helping save dozens of lives during one of America’s deadliest natural disasters.