Blake Williams

By: Maegan Prejean


Blake Williams, New Orleans, LA, senior had a near death experience in 2005 when he survived Hurricane Katrina.

On August 26, 2005 Blake, his parents and grandmother took all precautions while waiting on the arrival of Hurricane Katrina. “We did a little grocery shopping before the stores closed down,” Williams said. There had been other hurricane warnings before Katrina, so as their other family members evacuated to Baton Rouge, LA, his family decided to ride this hurricane out. “Hurricanes in the past were not that bad, so we stayed home and boarded everything up,” Williams explained.

“We were all downstairs as the water was coming in. We gathered everything important before the water got too high and ran upstairs,” Williams said. Blake’s grandmother has diabetes and her medicine bag was downstairs. His mother quickly ran downstairs and grabbed the bag. By this time the water was knee level.

Blake and his family waited the storm out over night. When they woke up the next morning they opened up a bedroom window upstairs, and sat on the rooftop to get air. The city was filled with water. New Orleans was in quarantine and no one was allowed to leave.

Blake contacted his godparents in Dallas. They were not allowed to enter the city until four days after the storm. While Blake waited on his godparents his father heard noises coming for the neighbor’s attic. Their elderly neighbor was trapped inside her one story house. Blake and his father kicked the door down and carried their neighbor on their shoulders through the water. The Williams family and their neighbor walked to a nearby high school for shelter because their house had too much water damage and smelled rotten.

After four days Blake’s godparents were finally able to get through the city. Blake and his family left all of their belongings and went to Dallas. “The traffic was backed up for miles and it took us several hours to get to Texas,” Blake explained.

Blake was unable to check the condition of his house right after the storm because another hurricane arrived in Louisiana. “Four weeks later I went back to New Orleans and my house had collapsed,” he said.

The Williams family had no other choice but to move permanently to Dallas. That was Blake’s senior year of high school and he had to transfer to a school in Dallas after being out of school for a month. “It was hard to move to another school because I didn’t know anyone and it was my senior year,” he said.

The Williams family now resides in Dallas. F.E.M.A gave his family money for the damage their house suffered and they used that to start their lives over in Texas. Last year in August his family finally got back on their feet and purchased a new house. Blake and his family still go back to New Orleans every holiday.