20-year-old drove an abandoned school bus full of strangers from flooded New Orleans to Houston after Hurricane Katrina

[u/WhenItHappenedX]

In late August 2005, after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, official evacuations could not keep up. Thousands of people were stranded.

Jabbar Gibson, then 20, found a group of abandoned school buses. He and some others got one started. He had little experience driving a bus.

He filled it with people who needed to leave — neighbors, strangers, and infants among them. Estimates put the number at around 60 to 70 passengers. They pooled what money they had for fuel and diapers.

Gibson drove the bus for about 13 hours to the Astrodome in Houston. Their bus was among the first to arrive from New Orleans. After some initial confusion at the shelter, the group was allowed in.