Sign up for the newsletter

Aug 28, 2025 - News

Photos show hope in Houston after Hurricane Katrina

Add Axios on Google

Add Axios on Google

A boy in a black shirt hugs a woman in a white floral outfit near a yellow school bus. A girl in pink pants and striped shirt holds the bus door, watched by another woman in a blue blazer. — Staff at Douglass Elementary School embrace a new student as the school welcomed about 175 evacuee children Sept. 8, 2005. The school was closed for financial reasons the year before, but Houston ISD reopened the facility for children of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Dave Einsel/Getty Images

Staff at Douglass Elementary School embrace a new student as the school welcomed about 175 evacuee children Sept. 8, 2005. The school was closed for financial reasons the year before, but Houston ISD reopened the facility for children of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Dave Einsel/Getty Images

Houston in 2005 was a place of hope for many who evacuated New Orleans after the storm.

The big picture: These photos show what the Bayou City was like amid the influx of new Houstonians.

A person writes on a large poster among numerous handwritten notes and signs on a wall, including a bright yellow one reading "Looking for Lost Family & Friends, SIGN HERE." — An evacuee staying inside the Astrodome posts a notice of their missing loved one on a bulletin board Sept. 3, 2005. Photo: Omar Torres/AFP via Getty Images

A boy in a shelter holds up a colorful drawing featuring storms, helicopters, buildings, and flags. — Inside the Astrodome, a boy shows off a drawing of his home in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Liz Hafalia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Group of people in a mall area under 'HONG KONG' sign, including man in red cap holding a sleeping baby and woman in green holding a toddler in orange floral shirt, smiling and close. — A New Orleans family waiting for a shelter to open passes the time inside the Hong Kong City Mall in Houston's Asiatown on Aug. 30, 2005. Photo: Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

A group of people seated in red stadium chairs hold colorful handwritten signs thanking the city of Houston for hosting evacuees from New Orleans — The Houston Comets offered free tickets for displaced New Orleans residents to Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Seattle Storm on Aug. 30, 2005. Photo: Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images

Add Axios on Google

More Houston stories