NEW ORLEANS —

A New Orleans Police Department sergeant saved hundreds of lives with a tool you likely have in your shed.

NOPD Sgt. Danny Scanlan used just an axe to rescue desperate people in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Advertisement

WDSU cameras captured the moment Scanlan swam into a home with an older woman on his back.

That was hours after the levees broke and the city flooded, and WDSU was there for this rescue and hundreds of others like it on a police boat with Scanlan in Gentilly.

WDSU anchor Travers Mackel witnessed Scanlan's incredible acts of heroism.

"Yeah, it's what we did — just what we did. It was our Super Bowl, the police department's Super Bowl," said Scanlan. "I still have that axe. It's a good axe."

Listen to Mackel speak with Scanlan about his Hurrican

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