And then the levees broke, reporter remembers covering Katrina

When thousands of residents began driving away from the Gulf Coast a decade ago as Hurricane Katrina approached, a small handful went rushing in. Most were emergency officials and first responders, but a handful were journalists.

NBC News reporter Carl Quintanilla was one of those few who went driving into Katrina on an empty road, with bumper-to-bumper traffic heading the opposite direction.

SEE MORE: Special coverage on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Instead of turning back, he and his colleagues at NBC and many other news outlets continued into New Orleans.

"I don't think any of us had the feeling 12, 24 hours in that this was going to be anything more than a big category hurricane in a major metropolitan area," Quintanilla said. "We figured we'd do some stories about rebuilding and move along in a few days -- but then the levees changed all that."

Some stayed for days. Other stayed for weeks.

For those journalists, reporting from the ground meant experiencing the storm in a way few others did -- meeting people in sometimes life-threatening situations and facing dangers rarely seen, even in the wake of similar disasters.

Ten years later, Quintanilla reflects on some of the most memorable and heartbreaking moments he experienced on the ground.

PHOTOS: Areas affected by the storm, then and now: