What percentage of New Orleans is below the poverty line during Hurricane Katrina?

Answer 1

There are two factors that caused much of the issues with Katrina. The first was that the poorer areas of New Orleans were situated in areas that never should have been populated. The ninth ward is well below sea level and was a disaster waiting to happen.

The second situation was completely socioeconomic. While everyone in New Orleans was told to leave the area, the poor had fewer resources to leave for any extended time. The city leaders also refused to assist the poorer sections evacuate the are with available buses.

Contributing factors in the situation was the refusal of the State to ask for Federal help for several days. This created a very difficult situation for those that chose to ignore the warnings (for whatever reasons) and stayed.

While the average person living in New Orleans was not below poverty, the average person that suffered from the disaster was certainly in the lower income for a variety of reasons. When you have fewer dollars to work with, your choices outside handouts from Government, are fewer and more restricted.

Answer 2

over 70,000 people lived in proverty due to hurricane Katrina