20 years later, Katrina evacuee built new life in San Antonio
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For the first time, new data shows that tens of thousands of New Orleans residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina ended up — and stayed — in Texas.
The big picture: The storm flooded about 80% of the city 20 years ago this week, leaving much of New Orleans suddenly uninhabitable.
The latest: Government officials have granted only one person, researcher Elizabeth Fussell, access to data showing where displaced New Orleanians ended up. She used census records to identify New Orleans residents impacted by Katrina, then followed them from 2006 to 2019.
Between the lines: Fussell found that 33% of Katrina-affected New Orleanians had not returned to the metro by 2006, with most living in Baton Rouge, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas, while the rest spread across the U.S.
- By 2019, her research shows, 31% of Katrina-affected New Orleanians still lived elsewhere.
Zoom in: Wardell Picquet drove from New Orleans to San Antonio three days after Katrina made landfall, thinking it would be temporary. He was a high school teacher at the time, and followed his then-girlfriend, who had previously been a teacher in San Antonio and thought they could find work here.
- Picquet tells Axios that within three days, he knew San Antonio was his new home.
Picquet, an artist, quickly got involved in San Antonio's art scene. He's taught an after-school art program through the Carver Community Cultural Center, where he's also served on the board, and taught art at the city's senior centers through Bihl Haus Arts.
- Picquet worked for about a decade teaching graphic design at the now-closed International Academy of Design and Technology. He's remained in the same Medical Center-area apartment for 20 years.
What they're saying: "The main reason I stayed was the people," Picquet says.
- He was impressed by everyone's kindness and generosity, the way people go out of their way to say hello. Once, two people returned the little grocery money he had when he dropped it in an H-E-B parking lot.
Zoom out: "People found more reasons to stay in Texas than they did in Baton Rouge or Atlanta," Fussell says.
- "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."
The bottom line: New Orleanians were already migrating to Texas before Hurricane Katrina, Fussell says, perhaps making it more appealing.
- "There's more to the story here," Fussell says. "When the hurricane happened, people did go to those places where they had family and friends because they knew they could get help and support and a feeling of home."