Arthur Maulet: A Story of Insurmountable Odds

As flood waters rose in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, 12-year-old Arthur Maulet and his grandfather, Anthony Hicks, escaped their home by splintering a hole in the ceiling with an axe and climbing onto their rooftop. From there, they traversed through the floodwaters to the Claiborne bridge and awaited rescue.

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty ImagesHurricane Katrina had made landfall East of New Orleans and the levee walls protecting the city under sea level broke. Devastation surged into the streets and murky waters filled the two-bedroom home that Hicks and Maulet had make-shifted into a five-bedroom by constructing walls sectioning the space to fit Maulet and his four siblings. His…