As Hurricane Katrina passed through New Orleans, The Times-Picayune photojournalist Ted Jackson was on assignment. Upon hearing that the Lower Ninth Ward was flooding, Jackson headed there with his camera, capturing images of the devastation and trying to help who he could. Jackson recalled what he saw from behind his lens and what happened after for the ABC News special “Katrina: 10 Years After the Storm,” which airs on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 10 p.m. ET. In this photo Jackson took late Monday morning on Aug. 29, 2005, girls wait for help atop an entry door at their home in the lower 9th ward.

A woman swims down St. Claude, after flood waters inundated the region after Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 29, 2005. "We screamed to her that-- you know, 'Can we help you? Can you get in the boat?'" Jackson said of the woman he photographed. "And she just looked at us and she said, 'No, I'm okay.' She said, 'I'm swimming to New Orleans.'" At first Jackson presumed her feet were touching the ground beneath the water. Jackson later realized that the water was nearly ten feet deep.

A woman emerges from the hole she chopped in the roof of her house, waiting to be rescued in Chalmette after floodwaters inundated New Orleans area, Aug. 2005. When Jackson took this photo from a boat, he and others accompanying him offered to rescue the woman, but she refused because they couldn't take everyone who was with her. "As we drove away, I just saw the desperation in her eyes that of-- just trying to imagine what they had gone through overnight in that attic,” Jackson said. “I don’t know who she is, but the desperation in her eyes just really haunted me.”

<p> In the Lower Ninth Ward, Jackson discovered a family clinging to the railing of their front porch. Chest-high rising floodwaters forced them to evacuate. Still emotional about this encounter, Jackson said, &ldquo;They wanted to push one of children on the log to me. I just could picture it in my head: she would fall off, be swept with the current.&rdquo; He feared she &ldquo;would drown.&rdquo; He left to retrieve a boat, and by the time he returned they were gone. Jackson later found the family who said they were eventually rescued and had been clinging to the posts for over five hours.</p>

<p> In the unbearable heat, chaos, and desperation of the Morial Convention Center, Jackson said he was grabbed by the elbow by Angela Perkins, photographed here, Sept. 1, 2005. Perkins insisted Jackson, and other journalists with him, help the rest of the world know that people were dying inside. &ldquo;At one point the emotions just overcame her,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;She said, &lsquo;Help us, help us please.&rsquo; And at that point's when she dropped down to her knees and just screamed.&rdquo;</p>

<p> The body of Ethel Freeman, center in wheelchair, and another body lie covered outside an entrance to the Morial Convention Center where thousands waited to be evacuated, Sept. 2, 2005. The 91-year-old woman's body lay outside the convention center for days. Evacuees showed as much respect for the dead as possible by draping them with blankets and sheets. &ldquo;I just remember how striking it was knowing that each and every one of these bodies had a name. They had family. They had loved ones who were probably here with them, that had to experience this with them,&rdquo; said Jackson.</p>

<p> Putrid waters inundated Broad Street, as seen from the Broad Street Overpass, Sept. 12, 2005. &quot;The thing that I remember about Katrina that was very visceral I guess you could say was the smell,&quot; Jackson said. &quot;The silence was haunting. There were no animals. There were no birds, not a sound at all in the air.&quot; Though he had the opportunity to evacuate, Jackson said he chose to stay. At one point, Jackson said he and coworker Brett Duke stopped to pray. &ldquo;We prayed for their safety, and we prayed for our cameras to be able to tell their stories,&rdquo; said Jackson.</p>

<p> Brian Taylor sits among the ruins of a home in Fort Beauregard Marina and Estates in Yscloskey, waiting for a boat to come pick him up, Sept. 12, 2005. He and a couple of friends arrived by boat from Slidell to check on their homes, which were totally wiped out, as was the rest of Yscloskey. Some of the people Jackson spoke to said they were not able to come back or rebuild. &ldquo;A lot of people owned their homes before because it was handed down through generations and never had insurance on their houses,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;So &hellip; they were kind of left without anything to rebuild with.&rdquo;</p>

<p> John Lacy stares out the window of his tiny apartment near Jackson Ave. &quot;I sit here every day and worry about my sister, who has a nice house on General Taylor. I haven't seen her since Katrina,&quot; Lacy told Jackson when he took this photo, Sept. 15, 2005. &quot;You know that we'll be hit by a hurricane again. It's just a matter of time,&quot; Jackson said. &quot;But how will we respond to that? How will people's emotions deal with that? What will they do next time?&quot;</p>