Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
existing site. Indeed, it should be noted that in the short term at least, the issue of
race is central to the challenges of reconstruction.
More than one million people evacuated New Orleans in September 2005. Four
years after the disaster, not all have returned. The resurrection of the city of New
Orleans is slow (see Table 9.1). However, Orleans, Jefferson, and St Bernard
parishes estimates based on indirect sources (postal activity, school enrollment, etc.)
suggest more significant population recovery.
Time
Jefferson
Orleans
Plaquemines
St Bernard
Census 2000
455,466
484,674
26,757
67,229
July 2005
449,640
453,726
28,588
64,683
January 2006
411,305
158,351
20,164
3,361
July 2006
422,222
210,768
21,610
13,924
July 2007
440,339
288,113
21,597
33,439
July 2008
436,181
311,853
21,276
37,722
Table 9.1.
Latest population estimates available by parish 2000-2008
(
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Special edition
for the Gulf of Mexico (sampling error estimated at +/- 12 %)
)
According to the latest edition of the Katrina Index [BRO 09], published in
January 2009 by the Brookings Institution, and according to local sources, the
population of Orleans Parish should reach 75% of its pre-Katrina levels 3 and a half
years after the storm. For the same time period, St Bernard Parish is estimated to be
at 58% of its pre-Katrina population. However, Jefferson Parish would be practically
restored to its pre-Katrina population levels, while population growth continues in St
Tammany Parish where growth is estimated at 5% between July 2005 and June
2008. Several factors explain the slow pace of rebuilding New Orleans. The areas
that were most heavily flooded near Lake Pontchartrain and the Lower Ninth Ward
are still only partially rebuilt. As long as the HPS is not significantly strengthened,
home owners will no longer qualify for the NFIP coverage if their homes are not
raised 3 feet above ground level. This represents a
prohibitive cost for many, so that many home owners have simply given up,
especially as public funding has failed to materialize and application requirements
are so complex. The Louisiana Road Home Program ($75,000) in support of home
owners is the main resource available to home owners. Implementation of the Road
Home Program began in 2007. Approximately 185,000 affected home owners filed
applications in 1997, but only 80% of cases had been settled by January 2009.
