New Orleans' Slow Hurricane Katrina Recovery
Population Down, Flood Protection Improved, Some Evacuees Return
Aug 28, 2007 Carroll Trosclair
Two years after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans area’s recovery remained a work in progress, encouraging in some areas, downright depressing in others. Here are some of the significant signs that were available on August 29, 2007, the second anniversary of America's greatest natural disaster.
St. Bernard Population Down 64%
According to various estimates gathered by The Times-Picayune, the population of the City of New Orleans was still 172,217 below its pre-Katrina count of 437,186. That was a decrease of 39.4 percent.
St. Bernard parish, the county located just south of New Orleans, was down even more, dropping from 64,576 to 23,420, a 64 percent loss.
Thousands of the New Orleans and St. Bernard residents moved to Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes, two other New Orleans neighboring counties which experienced smaller losses. That left the population in the three hardest hit parishes (Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard) down by 224,756, or 23.6 percent.
Some evacuees were still returning in the summer of 2007, but a shortage of inexpensive rental units and poor public transportation to outlying areas was making it difficult for poorer evacuees to return. Negative reports on crime, medical care and schools were also discouraging any significant inflow of new residents.
Big Charity Hospital Closed
According to the Metropolitan Hospital Council, the number of metro area hospitals was down from 20 to 15, but more significant was the 42 percent drop in the number of available hospital beds, from 4,083 to 2,367.
An even bigger concern was the loss of Charity Hospital, the giant downtown New Orleans hospital that provided free or low cost care for indigent patients. Charity went back to the days of Huey Long and traditionally provided much of the area’s emergency and trauma care.
Student Population Down
Officials expected about 32,000 students to enroll in New Orleans public schools for the 2007-08 year. That was about half the pre-Katrina enrollment.
The number of Catholic schools in the eight-parish archdiocese had also dropped from 107 to 86.
Flood Protection Improved
According to the Corps of Engineers, all levees in the area had been restored at least to their pre-Katrina conditions, but only 20 percent were up to the levels authorized by Congress years ago. The Corps also acknowledged that none of the levees meet Category 5 hurricane or 100-year flood protection standards.
The Feds had already spent $1.6 billion on improving flood protection for the area. Congress has authorized another $5.5 billion of the $13 billion needed to bring the levees to 100-year flood protection standards.
In addition to strengthening the levees to their pre-Katrina levels, the Corps has built floodgates at the entrances of three canals, as well as new pumping stations to move rainwater that might be trapped in the city by the floodgates.
New Orleans appeared to have survived Katrina without major losses, but then levees built by the Corps of Engineers failed and the city was flooded. Investigations showed the levees had not been built to their prescribed standards.
17% Fewer Hotel Rooms
The Greater New Orleans Hotel Association said the area had 31,885 rooms available, down 17% from before the storm. The area still had over 3,000 restaurants and delis, but that was 23% below pre-Katrina levels.
According to the New Orleans Aviation Board, the Louis Armstrong International Airport was handling 638,261 passengers per month, down 11%% since the storm.
Two years after Katrina, the New Orleans are recovery was still a work in progress.
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