Photo SpecialThen and Now: New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

ECHOES OF THE STORM

In the post-Katrina chaos, Mark Morice, 39, found a boat and began to rescue neighbors after hearing their heartrending pleas. "Screams echoed out over the water," he tells PEOPLE. "You can't ever forget." So Morice grabbed as many people as he could, including his 93-year-old neighbor, a pregnant woman and families with children, and gave them tasks on the boat to calm them – looking out for cars under the water or trees and limbs that would impede their journey. "People were in shock," he says of the scene.