Amber McZeal evacuated from New Orleans to the Bay Area after Hurricane Katrina. The storm and its aftermath resulted in 1,833 deaths and many survivors stranded on rooftops while federal response lagged. Thousands of mostly poor, Black residents were displaced in one of the largest U.S. natural disasters. About 1,700 evacuees relocated to California, with roughly 1,100 in Alameda County. A 2008 Bureau of Labor Statistics report found only up to 3% of evacuees who came to California remained a year later. Some evacuees stayed, rebuilt lives, remained connected to New Orleans, and engaged in ongoing relief and community work in the Bay Area.
In the aftermath, 1,833 people died and survivors were left stranded on rooftops as the federal government was slow to respond. Thousands of people - mostly poor and Black - were displaced in one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history. Twenty years later, some who were evacuated and relocated to other parts of the country, including the Bay Area, reflect on how Katrina changed their lives and how they remain rooted to a place that, for them, is more than geography.
"Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think that I would end up becoming a Californian," Smolkin said. "One of the things that I've struggled with is I wasn't there in those couple of months where my parents literally were gutting our house down to the studs, and there was part of me that felt like I was missing out on being part of that recovery effort for my family, but also being there in New Orleans."
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