How Hurricane Katrina's evacuees found a home in Dallas
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Dallas' Reunion Arena and convention center housed thousands of people who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Lawrence Jenkins/Getty Images
Tens of thousands of people found a temporary home in North Texas after Hurricane Katrina.
- Dallas' convention center was converted into a massive shelter, North Texans donated essentials and schools reopened enrollment to help the evacuees.
- Now, 20 years after the storm, we have a clearer picture of how many stayed. Nearly 12% of all Katrina evacuees were living in the Dallas area in 2019, per new data.
The latest: Since the storm, many researchers and journalists have tried to understand where the displaced New Orleanians ended up.
- Tracking evacuees, however, has been difficult. Population data shows trends but doesn't follow individuals and their decisions.
- Government officials granted only one researcher access to that kind of specificity within the data: Elizabeth Fussell, who is now a professor at Brown University.
The intrigue: Around 38% of New Orleans residents displaced by Katrina were still living in Texas — the most in any state — in 2019, per Fussell's analysis of census data.
- Houston in 2019 was the most popular metro for the displaced New Orleanians, followed by the Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, metros.
Flashback: The hurricane made its final landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, becoming the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history.
- Our Axios New Orleans colleagues have spent the month sharing stories about how their region rebuilt after the hurricane.
The big picture: Nearly 1,400 people died across the Gulf states, mostly in Louisiana, according to the National Hurricane Center.
- New Orleans lost more than half of its population in the hurricane's aftermath.
Zoom in: Reunion Arena, located by Reunion Tower, was among the many shelters set up in North Texas for evacuees. The arena was demolished in 2009.
- Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash joined an entourage of NBA players for a day of rebuilding homes in 2008.
Between the lines: "People found more reasons to stay in Texas than they did in Baton Rouge or Atlanta," Fussell tells Axios.
- Atlanta's almost 15% share of displaced New Orleanians in 2006 dropped to nearly 8% by 2019, while Dallas' share doubled from 6% to 12%.
- "That's what's interesting: What made the places stickier for some people and less sticky for others? … You need more than friends and family; you need jobs and housing," Fussell says.
Go deeper: How hurricane survivors moved their church to the Texas Hill Country
