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They were almost overwhelming, so many images from a city filled with desperation after Hurricane Katrina.

KHOU-TV

Donald Hurst, 7, cries when he remembers Katrina. Devonte, the younger child, seems happily unaware that he almost died.

But from them there was one, the firefighter still on the job, the little boy who was still alive.

In the midst of despair it seemed to offer hope.

“I felt for the little boy.  He was just an innocent child caught up in this mess,” said Capt. Doug Balser, New Orleans Fire Department.

A year later we asked Capt. Balser to repeat his footsteps and search his memory.

“We hopped on some military vehicles and they brought us in.  When we got to the top we couldn’t find the man having the heart attack but there was this woman and this little child.  The child was kind of lethargic. The mother could see he was about ready to crash,” said Capt. Balser.

Devonte Hurst ended up in Balser’s arms after the family’s perilous journey through the flood on an air mattress.

“As he’s sitting on the edge of it, it just flipped over,” said his mother, Tymica Hurst

Now four, Devonte seems happily unaware of how long he was under water, how close he came to drowning.

On some days Devonte’s family watches home movies of a time now measured as “before Katrina”.

Hurst’s mother plans to return to her home in New Orleans.

But Hurst says her heart tells her to remain in Texas where there has been kindness.

“When I made it to Dallas a lady took her shoes off her feet and gave them to me.  And I still don’t know who she is but I want to say thank you.  Because I didn’t have any shoes.  I was walking barefeeted,” she said.

It is where Devonte seems to be thriving and his older brother Donald does well in school

“He was in first grade.  He on a third grade reading level,” his mother said.

But beneath the surface the storm still claims victims.   At seven, Donald Hurst tries to talk about it, but it hurts too much. 

“Sad,” he said.

Capt. Balser is still on duty in New Orleans.

“We’re coming together.  I mean it’s slow but we’re coming together,” he said.

And remarkably perhaps, for the Hurst children, an afternoon spent splashing in clear water does not bring back thoughts of the dark water, but seems to drive away the storm.

Like that picture a year ago, perhaps it is an image that offers hope.