Thread: Census outlines face of today's New Orleans

Census outlines face of today's New Orleans
By Anne Rochell Konigsmark, USA TODAY
Wed Jun 7, 7:08 AM ET



Hurricane Katrina drained the New Orleans metropolitan area of almost 40% of its residents and left the region with a whiter, wealthier and older population, according to the first Census Bureau estimates since the devastating flooding.


The special survey released today shows the New Orleans area, made up of seven parishes, became 73% white in the months after the hurricane Aug. 29, up from about 59% before the storm. The black population dropped from about 37% to 22%. The median age increased by about four years, and the median annual income rose from $39,793 to $43,447.


"This confirms what some people thought: There was a selective out-migration of poorer minorities," says William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution.


The survey provides only estimates and is not official. It looked at counties and parishes in four states affected most by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.


In New Orleans, the Census report confirms what local officials have been saying for months: Katrina did more damage in lower-income, black neighborhoods, which has made it more difficult for those residents to return.


Katrina and the subsequent breaching of the levee system flooded 80% of New Orleans and swamped St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes to the east. Areas that did not flood are repopulating, but vast stretches of the metro area remain virtually empty. The Louisiana Recovery Authority estimates about 200,000 homes were destroyed.


The city of New Orleans lost about 64% of its residents after the storm, going from 437,000 in July to 158,000 in January, the Census Bureau says.


New Orleans demographer Greg Rigamer says the city's population has risen to 200,000 since the Census survey. Like the wider seven-parish metro area, New Orleans has lost more blacks than whites, Rigamer says. The May 20 mayoral election showed the city to be about 55% black, Rigamer says, down from two-thirds.


Lisa Blumerman of the Census Bureau says the demographic changes include an increase in requests for food stamps "across the board" in storm-affected areas. "Louisiana alone saw a 14% increase," she says. "That's incredible growth and shows an increased need for government help."


Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where Katrina hit directly and swept away miles of coastal homes, the population has dwindled 17%, from 363,000 to 303,000. The black population rose from 17% to 28%, while the white population declined from 80% to 71%.


Many hurricane evacuees are living in Houston, according to the survey. Harris County, which includes Houston, has an additional 90,000 people, or a 2.5% increase. Baton Rouge, about 80 miles east of New Orleans, saw its population increase by 17,000 people, or 4%.

So..., ok..., whoever took all the black people from New Orleans, please put them back. Now.

they inundated to the open arms of other cities. i know we built apartment complexes for them in my county. granted, the apartments are cheap, but it is all they can afford coming from something like that and being ripped off by insurance companies

Many of the Katrina victims came here, too, where housing was found for them, and only a very small percent of them had insurance. Most of them did not have insurance to begin with, which made rebuilding and starting over impossible. Others, who were "ripped off" signed paperwork they didn't read thoroughly and didn't understand their policies from the get-go.
I would think that it is common sense to make sure you have insurance and understand exactly what it does and does not cover if:
1. You live a whole two feet above sea level (as in New Orleans)
2. You live in a hurricane-prone region (like the Gulf Coast)
3. You live in a flood-prone area (again, the Gulf Coast with the storm surges, old levees, etc.)
So, in a way, some of these folks made themselves victims by not protecting themselves adequately. Not all, but some -- in case someone missed that -- and PART of the reason why the demographics have changed may have something to do with that. Too many people buy houses and get the cheapest, most limited insurance they can get to cut corners. That only serves as a waste of money, and when people complain about how they can't afford insurance, etc, I wonder -- it's better that they lose everything rather than spend the money to be able to replace it?
Hmm.
Then you have the folks living in the areas that were devastated and they were mostly renters, and a lot of these homes and apartments were in low-rent areas built by the government. They were a total loss -- and that's a little unnerving, as they were also close to the levees that broke, also built by the government.
Between all this, it almost looks like selective out-migration of people.
Scary.
I wonder if the Gulf Coast, and especially New Orleans, will ever be the same?
Purrs,
Pookie

Bush' lack of reponse was truly intended to do just that... weed out the poor and open up a Real Estate Fiasco for the rich. I knew that when it happened... ~Inky

Take the tinfoil hat off please.

bush's only problem in the gulf was a hesitant response.

nature cannot be prevented, but plan of action can be made and taken, but sometimes we must learn from mistakes.

I don't think the trash in office is as dumb as liberals make them out to be... ~Inky

are you implying that bush willfully let people suffer and starve in a time of domestic crisis? what is your evidence.

The time it took and the people that died. The tape of the breifing with Bush that he neglected to heed. Or didn't you know about that? But they were just poor people, no importance to society.., right? ~Inky