Corrine Willems

Shaped by the Storm

The 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina brings back memories for junior Corrinne Willems and her father who escaped the storm’s wrath, but not its effects. BY ABBY SMITH EDITORIAL EDITOR

Thunder rolls through the air and shakes the I feared I would never see my daughter again. I rain-drenched earth while bolts of lightning honestly thought [I was] going to die in that house regularly pierce the torrential rainfall in the that day,” Willem’s father said. otherwise dark sky. Small rivers form and Meanwhile in Kansas City, Willems didn’t know rush down sides of streets as the draining systems what to think. Because her birth mother had left her struggle to keep up. and her father earlier in her life, the permanence of

Sitting in her room, she is caught in a flashback her father’s kiss goodbye was unknown in her young to her childhood and the storms that once threatened mind. her life along with her father’s. She jerks herself back “At this point my biological mother was already to reality and shoves headphones in her ears to try to gone, so in my five-year-old mind, I rationalized that drown out the noise and slow her pounding heart. my dad wasn’t coming back, just like my mom had

For junior Corrinne Willems, thunderstorms never come back,” Willems said. create a sense of panic, reminding her of the Willems and her father were no stranger to hurricane that drove her from her home ten years ago storms, even before Hurricane Katrina. In the this August. Just as it did for the thousands of other short time living in Mississippi, she and her father individuals living on the southern coast that year, experienced the effects of Hurricane Ivan and several Hurricane Katrina changed Willems’ life forever. other tropical storms. The two had a close call with a

According to livescience.com, Hurricane tornado touchdown that same year as well. However Katrina was one of the most destructive storms to none of these prepared them for the full-scale ever hit the United States and by far the most costly destruction Katrina would bring. Willem’s young age with an estimated $108 billion in damage. The for all of these encounters saved her in a way. Only category-five storm caused almost 2,000 deaths and now looking back on it does she realize how scary it left over a million homeless along the Gulf Coast. all was. While New Orleans is the most highly-publicized “We were under mandatory evacuation on at city affected, Katrina brought major damage to all of least three occasions even before Katrina. We felt like southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi. we kind of became experts on hurricanes,” Willem’s

Willems had been living with her father in Long father said. “It wasn’t true by the way. We were far Beach, Mississippi, for around a year when the storm from experts.” struck their city. Their apartment was only a few The chaos of her childhood has definitely played minutes walk from the ocean. a part in who Willems is today. She has a knack for

“I had basically nothing with me when I left finding ways to adjust to almost any situation, good Mississippi,” Willems said. or bad. Her eagerness to talk and communicate with

To escape the hurricane, Willems traveled with others at school is sharply contrasted with the quiet, a classmate to Tennessee where she was picked up by creative side she shows at home, pursuing her passion two aunts that she had never met before and taken of writing. Willems mostly writes works of fiction but to Kansas City. Even though the whole situation enjoys proofreading other people’s stories as well. At was rather abrupt and confusing for five-year-old times she reads up to 100,000 thousand words per Willems, she was used to adapting. Before Mississippi, day. Willems had lived in Texas and Louisiana and had “I love writing because I don’t have to think originally been born in Kansas City. about it; it just comes naturally,” Willems said.

Willems was basically adopted into her aunt’s The strong relationships formed with her aunt family for the next month and started attending and father during the crazier years now serve as a a new school. Willem’s father, Don Willems, had reminder for what she went through and what she stayed behind in Mississippi due to his involvement has been able to get out of it. with civil defense and ongoing work at the airport. “My dad and I are extremely close. It was just He survived Katrina’s massive storm but not without him and me for nine years,” Willems said. “I feel like fearing his life. with all the stuff we’ve gone through, we have to stick

“Each time the winds picked up even more, together because we are all that we’ve ever had.”

Hurricane Katrina destroyed homes, churches and roads alike in Long Beach, Mississippi, and nearby towns. The Willems’s apartment complex was a part of this devestation. (Photos submitted by Don Willems)

Junior Corrinne Willems laughs as her father, Don Willems, jokes around. (Photo by Abby Smith)