Melvin Guillard
Only months before his big breakthrough on The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 back in 2005, Melvin Guillard was caught up in one of the most damagine tropical cyclone’s in American history when Hurricane Katrina smashed into New Orleans with all of it’s might.
The 22-year-old Guillard had been warned to leave the city before the hurricane hit, but his fiancee worked at the Sheriff’s Department and had to stay, so he vowed to stay too.
Guillard attempted to move his vehicle to higher ground several times during the storm, yet it was still eventually swallowed up by the ever-rising floods, while the building he took shelter in with others during the cyclone was left surrounded by six feet of water.
With the authorities busy rescuing other people, Guillard decided he had to do something to help the estimated 90 people he was stranded with, and so he swam out to a nearby bridge and began to build a raft that he used to help others make it to a safer place.
Afterwards Guillard says that he discovered an abandoned water truck and admits to also taking essential supplies from stores in order to help the people he was with on the bridge, who spent three days there before finally being rescued.
