Luck Grows For One Evacuee Family

Culminates With Spousal Reunion And Finding Apartment In New City

(CBS)  A storm that spawned countless tragedies has also given rise to stories of hope and renewal.

Anne Williams' is one such story.

Williams and her 5-year-old granddaughter, Zaria, were stranded on a New Orleans causeway for two days and, as Trish Regan reports, that's where Williams last saw her husband, Percy.

She hadn't heard from him since when she told Regan, "I know that he's OK. … I just feel it that he's OK."

Anne has been trying to adjust to her new home in Houston. She was evacuated to the Astrodome.

She's actually fortunate, Smith says. Williams only had to spend one night in the dome before being taken in by Tracy Cox and her family.

Cox had gone to the Astrodome to help out, and came home with 10 people.

"I couldn't send them back in there," Cox says.

"Each one had a characteristic, a look in their eye, a look on their face of just, they were like desperate," Cox said, "and people were just walking around aimlessly. They had nowhere to go, nothing to do. No money."

So, overnight, Cox's family of six grew to a family of 16.

"We just blend in like one big family!” Williams said.

For Zaria, starting over means starting school in a new city. It was, Smith says, about to be a memorable day in her young life.

And a memorable day for her grandmother.

CBS News found her husband at a shelter two hours away, and brought him to Houston.

Peering out a window in Cox's home, Anne said, "That's him. Oh, Jesus!"

As they hugged tightly, Anne sobbed. "I didn't know what happened to you," she said. “I thought you were dead."

And when Zaria's school day finished, she also had a big surprise, as Percy picked her up and hugged her tightly.

Then, the day got even better.

Cox's church found the Williams family an apartment and Percy, a bus driver, is determined to find work and rebuild their lives.

"I'm the type of person who likes a challenge," he says. "I lived one lifestyle in New Orleans that was fair and decent. Maybe I could live a better lifestyle here in Texas."

"We can," Anne said.

"Who knows," Percy said. "I might get lucky."

And after the week they've had, the Williams already seem to have.