(NewsNation) — Bestselling author and journalist Mitch Albom was evacuated from Haiti by helicopter when the country fell into turmoil.

He joined NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” Tuesday to share his story.

“Every night, even from our orphanage, you could hear rapid gunfire, and I don’t mean like a shot here or there but machine guns and AK-47s, and we heard every night about something burning, another building burning, police stations burning, bodies found out in the street, and sadly, it continues to this day,” Albom said.

The “Tuesdays With Morrie” writer was on a regular visit to the orphanage he founded when chaos broke out. He says after the gangs controlling Port-au-Prince released about 4,000 prisoners, the country “really fell into their control.”

Soon after, Haiti’s airports and ports shut down, and Albom and his group of nine others had to find another way out.

“We had three failed attempts trying to get out via helicopter before we were actually able to successfully do it thanks to the help of a couple of U.S. congresspeople who were not acting as U.S. congresspeople. They were just acting on their own and put together an effort that ended up getting this out,” Albom said.

Life in Port-au-Prince has become a game of survival, pushing Haitians to new limits as they scramble to stay safe and alive while gangs overwhelm the police and the government remains largely absent. Some are installing metal barricades.

Others press hard on the gas while driving near gang-controlled areas. The few who can afford it stockpile water, food, money and medication, supplies of which have dwindled since the main international airport closed in early March. The country’s biggest seaport is largely paralyzed by marauding gangs.

“When we crossed out of Haiti airspace, everybody else in the plane clapped, you know, because they were happy. But my wife and I kind of felt a real gut punch because that made it very real that we were leaving our kids behind,” Albom told NewsNation.