Waveland survivor determined to rebuild her life after Katrina

By Kelly Roberts

After Katrina Newswire

WAVELAND — Keri Kraemer, 36, sits in her lawn chair in front of her shiny new FEMA trailer in the yard that previously held a beautiful family beach home.

She looks beyond her yard and surveys the destruction Hurricane Katrina caused to the once-attractive and thriving city of Waveland. The pain in her eyes is evident as she gazes at the devastation.   

Kraemer's yard is no different than her neighbors' yards. Across the railroad tracks in Waveland, where Kraemer's lot is located, the only things left are piles of ruble and debris and the foundations of what once were grand houses that graced the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Katrina made no exceptions when it battered Waveland. Six months later, the town's recovery is hardly noticeable. People making their daily rounds around town and cars traveling the streets give a sense of normalcy, but open businesses are rare. Waveland looks like an old boomtown ravaged by war.

The Woman Behind the Pain

Kraemer is a small, friendly woman who greets with a big smile and an easy-going attitude, whose wrists and ankles are covered in a variety of bracelets that contain tiny clues to who she is. She is retired from the military. She opens the door to her FEMA trailer and offers comfort from the swarming, biting little gnats that are abundant in Waveland.

Kraemer has been diagnosed with endometriosis.

"I have had 27 surgeries but the endometriosis kept growing and now has turned cancerous," Kraemer said. "It can't be cured."

She is also a devoted animal lover. "Before the hurricane, I had 11 cats and one dog but I lost six cats and my dog to Katrina," Kraemer said with tears forming in her eyes.

Because of her health problems and the financial worries Katrina left behind, Kraemer describes herself as being "in autopilot mode."

"Katrina has been life altering and I am still battling with it emotionally," she said.

Susan Franks, 58, of Oklahoma is Kraemer's biological mother and has come to support and help Kraemer rebuild her life. Kraemer was adopted when she was an infant.

"She gave me up when I was a baby but she has come to save me now," Kraemer said.

What was Left

Kraemer stayed in Waveland during Katrina. After Katrina, she left and stayed in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas. One month after Katrina, she came home.

"Everything was completely destroyed," Kraemer said. "I had to live in a tent for six weeks."

Kraemer said officials told her the water was anywhere from 26 to 28 feet above her house.

"People have no idea the extent of the destruction in Waveland," Kraemer said. "Pictures can not justify what it really looks like; someone has to come and experience it in person."

Kraemer estimates 90 percent of Waveland was destroyed by Katrina.

The hurricane also seemed to bring not only devastation but a plentiful amount of gnats and mosquitoes that torture Waveland residents.

Kraemer praised the thousands of volunteers that responded to Waveland.

She said many people showed up to volunteer. Among those volunteers, 26 came to help Kraemer.

"I have been helped by individual volunteers, Red Cross volunteers and many church group volunteers with necessary things such as clothing and groceries," she said.

Kraemer told of one moment when she and others were out working on debris and a van stopped, volunteers handed them all pizzas and then the van took off. "It's little things like that, that works wonders," Kraemer said.

"It's amazing to see how people on the outside and the community have banded together to rebuild our Waveland," she added.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction in Waveland is a slow process.

"Clean-up has already started, but only a quarter of Waveland's debris has been removed," Kraemer said.

Both Kraemer and her mother agree that the government is doing all it can.

"Katrina was so big and it hit a large area, but the government is doing well," Franks said.

Kraemer said, "The government is trying so hard but there is so much red tape and politics involved."

Although Kraemer has a positive opinion about the government, she is upset with the way FEMA is handling its trailers.

Insurance and housing are among the main concerns for residents whose houses were destroyed by Katrina.

"It infuriates me to see my neighbors still without some form of shelter," Kraemer said.

Kraemer said a representative took his time responding to her need for a FEMA trailer. Her wait lasted four months. In December, she received her trailer.

"The only reason why I got my trailer in December is because I have health problems and that set me near the top of the priority list," she said.

Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Katrina victims are battling with their insurance companies.

Kraemer seemed to not let insurance problems worry her.

"I have some insurance but I have no flood damage insurance," said Kraemer. "I plan on rebuilding in the same spot and I will not get flood insurance for the new house."

Life after Katrina

"I think life will never get back to normal or to the way it once was,"

Kraemer said.

She said she has learned many hard lessons such as to take nothing for granted and to respect Mother Nature.

"The main strength that has come out of Katrina is the way the Waveland community has banded together to support and devote themselves to each other and to their proud town," Kraemer said.

Kraemer feels the battle isn't over. She is concerned with the ever- approaching hurricane season.

"I think this hurricane season is going to be worse than the last and I think Waveland will definitely see another hurricane," said Kraemer. "I am scared."

Kraemer said she will soon start to prepare for another hurricane season but claims she will stay in Waveland if one hits.

For the time being she is concerned with rebuilding and gaining a sense of normalcy.

"It has been a tough go physically and emotionally," Kraemer said. "When I go out to see what I can do to help, everywhere I pass I see debris and I think to myself, that is someone's life that has been destroyed and they will never get it back."


Kelly Roberts is a senior journalism major at the University of Southern Mississippi. The After Katrina Newswire is a project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at USM (www.usm.edu/afterkatrina). This story can be reprinted with this credit included.