ST. LOUIS - This week marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf of Mexico as a category 3 storm. 

Among the impacted towns was Biloxi, Mississippi. Scott Melton, a former Biloxi resident, moved to Missouri after the storm.

“It was just town after town after town, miles of destruction,” Melton said.  

Melton chose to ride out the storm, expecting little impact. While residents were warned, some lacked the means to go.

“When you get so many minor hurricanes, eventually it's almost like the boy who cried wolf,” Melton said. “So I decided to stay for Katrina and  that was the one I should have left for.”

Melton, his friend and his friend's girlfriend were asleep when power was cut to the town. When Melton awoke, conditions had worsened, and he doubted the house would hold up.

“I opened my front door; there was no ground, no sidewalk, no road,” Melton said. “It looked like I was in the middle of a lake; it was already that high with the water, and  maybe an hour or so later, it was up on my porch.”

Melton and his friends tried escaping the floodwater as they crept in the house, making their way to the attic and eventually the roof.

A sailboat floating by was “a miracle” for Melton and his friends as they clung to it for safety.

After being separated from his friends, leaving behind his dog and everything he owned, Melton was in a shelter at a nearby elementary school. 

He was not able to get ahold of any family for days with power lines down. He was presumed missing before he was finally able to reach his father.

Melton said this event was one that shook the town and the coast to its core, and no matter how much time passes, the memories of the floods, wind, and rain will be with him forever.

“That was  probably one of the worst days in my life and the scariest I've ever had to fight so hard to stay alive,” Melton said.

Melton now lives in Belleville, Illinois, with his wife. He had returned to Biloxi after the storm and continued to live there before ultimately moving back.