Hurricane Katrina will forever be one of the most
devastating natural disasters in American history. In
addition to the extremely high death toll (it was the
third deadliest storm since 1900), Katrina displaced
hundreds of thousands of individuals. Current
estimates suggest that total damage will exceed
$75 billion, making it the costliest hurricane, indeed
disaster, in U.S. history.1
The nation’s focus early in the recovery was on urban
areas, especially New Orleans— understandable
given that the vast majority of deaths occurred in
such localities. Rural areas, in contrast, received far
less notice. Yet rural areas, because of their unique
characteristics, are often more at risk in disasters,
and socially vulnerable populations all too often lose
out in long-term recovery programs. Further, the
rural South has a large African American population,
and race often compounds vulnerability.
This brief shows how the characteristics of rural Gulf
Coast families place them at higher risks during
natural disasters and make them far less able to
recover from such calamities. Although few realize it,
nonmetro residents represented the majority (55%)
of the population affected by Hurricane Katrina in
Mississippi. They also constituted 17% of the people
living in Alabama’s disaster-stricken area, and about
12% of the affected population in Louisiana. These
are not inconsequential numbers; they represent
thousands of inhabitants living in small communities
dotting the tri-state region. Map 1 shows the path of
Katrina through the rural South.
This Rural Realities brief draws much needed
attention to nonmetro areas affected by Hurricane
Katrina and outlines the key features of the rural
people and places that have been impacted by
this major disaster. Most important, it offers a
series of policy recommendations that can assist
in rebuilding the region’s nonmetro counties and
parishes. The hope is that these policy ideas can
offer a meaningful set of strategies for lessening the
future vulnerability of rural areas within and outside
this region of the country.