Love stories that survived the storms; Hurricanes Katrina and Rita couldn't match the power of the heart

IT was the end of another grueling day for Clark Williams when he spotted the love of his life amid the clamor and chaos of a shelter in Denham Springs, La.

It had to be love, he says, because just looking at the short, pretty woman seemed to wash away the pain and suffering he experienced while escaping New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history.

On the other hang the object of his affection, Barbara Williams, didn't even notice the tall, handsome man staring at her from across the cavernous gymnasium that housed Katrina evacuees. Beset with grief, she didn't feel at all attractive. Her hair stood on end and her clothes were dirty, she recalls. She barely escaped the rancid, bacteria-infested floodwaters of her beloved hometown. While she searched, she worried that the rest of her family did not make it and wondered why she had survived. For days, she had spent every waking minute trying to find her family, including her adult sons and daughter.

Falling in love was the last thing on Barbara's mind, but it happened. Days after locating her children and other members of her family, the 50-year-old cook opened her heart to Clark, 39, and they began a whirlwind courtship.

Nearly seven weeks after Hurricane Katrina ravaged their hometown, they were married in October in a storybook wedding at Remnant Church of God in Walker, La. The small and simple wedding was paid for through donations from kindhearted strangers from across their adopted home, Denham Springs. "It's like God was smiling down on us," says Barbara, whose last name was already the same as her married name. "God does things for a reason. I feel as if I've met my soul mate."

The Williamses are not the only evacuees who found love amid the tragedy of hurricane Katrina. Some couples married in shelters and otherwise did what was necessary to consummate their love during the crisis that sparked a media firestorm that gripped the nation. Unlike the Williamses, though, many couples had plans to marry before hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf Coast. Most of them lost everything in the aftermath of the storms, including their homes, wedding dresses, tuxedos, rings and invitations. Banquet halls and elegant restaurants, damaged by floodwaters, were rendered useless.

Still, many couples wanted jump the broom despite the hardship they encountered, and they struggled to find ways to make it happen. Such determination is not unusual.

Embracing Shakespearean-like love during times of great tragedy is a natural response to misfortune, mental health experts say. "It's not surprising that people in something as catastrophic as Hurricane Katrina are reaching out to each other for help, sustenance, guidance and support," says Dr. Price Cobbs, a leading psychiatrist and author of several books. "I would think all nerve endings are open on something like that. The sheer intensity of people meeting each other almost by definition is going to lead to people clinging to each other. They're thinking, 'You may be the last person I'm going to meet.' Besides, they've just lost everything, not just their homes, but their neighborhoods and city."

In many cases, tragedy brings people closer together. Twenty-one-year-old Trazjae Clark and DeShawn Moss, 24, both of New Orleans, were set to marry in May 2006 before the storm hit. They met about three years ago while working at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans. She was a banquet server and a full-time student at Xavier University, and he was a hotel steward. "The first time DeShawn laid eyes on me, he looked at me like I was gold," Trazjae recalls. "I was a senior in high school and both of us were involved in other relationships. But by the time we became disentangled from our other relationships and he proposed to me, I knew he was my destiny."

But destiny nearly took a backseat to fate of Hurricane Katrina, which rampaged through New Orleans, submerging 80 percent of the city in nearly 15 feet of water. They lost everything, but their lives and each other. They escaped together to Raleigh, N.C., before floodwaters consumed the city. But what of their wedding plans? Once again, the kindness of strangers helped usher them to the alter, and they married on September 17 in a church ceremony, nearly eight months before their planned date. "Hurricane Katrina showed how fleeting life is," Trazjae says. "We decided that there was too much going on to get married in May. So we decided that we would make it happen sooner rather than later. During the storm, we made plans to get jobs, buy a ring and get married as soon as possible."

They were married in a small yet spectacular service at Baptist Grove Church in Raleigh, N.C., in a ceremony conducted by Pastor Paul L. Anderson. "We were there to help," he says. "It was truly a blessing to help these two people--who were so in love--get married."