Saints' Super Bowl Victory Reminds New Orleans How Far It's Come

Feb. 8, 2010— -- For the last 24 hours, the images coming out of New Orleans have shown a city rocking to a victorious beat, as proud residents celebrate their first ever Super Bowl victory.

On Sunday night, brass bands trumpeted their way through throngs of people filling up the legendary Bourbon Street. Eighty-year-old New Orleaneans had tears in their eyes as they linked arms with equally touched teenagers. The people of Who Dat Nation were dancing and cheering wildly till the wee hours of the morning, bursting with pride that, at this moment, all eyes are were on their beloved city.

Less than five years ago, all eyes were on New Orleans as well, though for a starkly different reason. Its streets were filled with people, but they were not crying tears of joy -- they were crying out for help.

They were wading knee-deep through the floodwaters left by Hurricane Katrina. They were searching through piles of bodies at the morgue to see if they could find their loved ones. They were evacuated from their homes, crowded into a crowded Superdome and convention center, searching for food, medicine and water. In many cases, they simply left the city.

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Cindy Davis was one of the thousands who hunkered down at the city's convention center during Hurricane Katrina. Davis did not leave for Alabama with her family the day before Katrina made landfall -- she knew her nursing skills would be needed.

"That's what I signed up for," Davis told ABC News in an interview today. "I am a nurse. When it turned into what it turned into, I wanted to be there."

So this mother of three sent off her family to safety, and stayed at the hospital where she worked -- until she herself was evacuated, along with her patients, to the convention center. She remained there for four days.

"It was chaos," she said. "It was just a bunch of people trying to survive."

On the third day, as Davis was attending to one of her patients, she heard commotion a few feet away from here.

"Someone yelled out 'We need help' and someone pointed to me saying I was a nurse. I went over to see what I could do and saw a woman passed out. She had diabetes."

Davis cried out in the crowd for orange juice and insulin.

She attended to the young woman on the ground, Joyce Johnson, before ABC News' cameras. She gave Johnson an insulin shot, preventing her from falling into diabetic shock. Johnson, who had been without her insulin for four days, was nearing organ failure because her blood sugar was hovering near 600.

"I was very emotional after it all happened. I kept thinking, 'this woman could die, I'm here with patients, my family's somewhere else. There's no food, there's no water, the sanitation conditions were horrible.'"

Real Super Bowl Victory: New Orleans Reclaims its Pride

Nearly five years after the hurricane, Davis continues to live and work near New Orleans. "Our house had three feet of water after Katrina. But my husband remodeled and rebuilt it." She still works in medicine, at an assisted living facility. Last night, she and her husband watched the Super Bowl together.

"I was yelling," said Davis, excitedly. "I was trying not to wake up my four-year-old. It was just so amazing, after all we've been through. From the worst of the worst, we've become the best of the best."

Davis said she tries not to think too much about Hurricane Katrina. "It is very emotional for me, even five years down the road."

Davis had to undergo counseling for a year following the hurricane. She says she has not been back to the Convention Center since her four days there that September in 2005.

"I have no desire to go back. Unless you were there, I don't think anyone can realize what people went through."

The Saints' victory Sunday night, however, gave Davis plenty of hope. "It's given everyone a common ground, it's brought everyone together."

Davis sheepishly says she was finally glad that they went from a being a team jeeringly referred to as the "Ain'ts" to being the Saints.

"The memories of Katrina are always going to be there," Davis says. "But now, people won't just feel sorry for New Orleans. They will say "Wow, look, they are the 44th Super Bowl champions. Maybe we'll be the 45th and 46th as well."

A Picture Capturing Anguish

Arnetta Harris' anguish was captured on film as she sat outside the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Tex. A photographer shot a photo of Arnetta wailing as she held her two-year-old nephew.

"I was crying out for help for someone to come get us," Harris says, describing when the photo was taken. "I was lost, very lost. I didn't know where I was."

Harris was a double evacuee -- first from New Orleans to Houston after Katrina, then again as Hurricane Rita threatened Houston. A third move led her to stay with family in Atlanta, Ga., before finally making her way back to the New Orleans area in 2006.

Times have been tough for Harris since the storm. Her father passed away 2008 and financially, things haven't been the same. "I really want a job," says Harris. "It's been really hard for me and my two kids."

Real Super Bowl Victory: New Orleans Reclaims its Pride

Like many other Saints fans, Harris says her experience watching the Super Bowl with family was emotional.

"We turned and hugged each other. We couldn't believe that it happened," she says. "I feel a change come over me last night. I was very excited. My heart is still pumping."

And what else did Harris and her family do after celebrating the win? They went to Bourbon Street to celebrate with other New Orleans revelers.

"The city was shaking," said Harris. "It was real crazy!"

For Harris, the Saints' win is hope for a city that has not had enough of it. She credits Saints quarterback Drew Brees. "I feel that he knew that he had to do something for us to feel that New Orleans was here, that we have faith in New Orleans. I love him for that."

After nearly five years struggling to rebuild New Orleans, the Saints' victory has given the city a reason to feel proud.

"We got this. We did this," exclaimed Harris, "we're champions!"