Mandatory evacuation began before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and residents fled to many cities. Levee breaches flooded about 80% of New Orleans and required further removals from a suddenly uninhabitable city. The storm was responsible for nearly 1,400 deaths, most presumed in Louisiana. Pre-Katrina population was 484,674 (2000 census); estimated residents numbered 230,172 in April 2006, a loss of more than 250,000 people. Population rose to an estimated 362,701 by 2024. Tracking displaced individuals has been exceptionally difficult, and only one researcher received detailed longitudinal access to data.
Flashback: Under the city's first mandatory evacuation, New Orleanians began leaving before the storm made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, fleeing to cities like Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Houston, Atlanta and thousands of places in between and beyond. When the levees broke, flooding about 80% of the city, it meant thousands more needed to be removed from a suddenly uninhabitable New Orleans.
The sodden shell of a city left behind needed to be rebuilt before it could be functional, but it needed to be functional to be rebuilt. New Orleans' population was cleaved in two. By the numbers: The top experts for New Orleans demographic data point to the 2000 census as the best source for pre-Katrina figures, which pegs the population at 484,674 people in April 2000.
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