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 But recovery has been uneven in the city, which took the brunt of
the 2005 storm that killed more than 1,800 people and was the
costliest in U.S. history.
Many properties still bear physical scars from the hurricane,
particularly in poorer African-American neighborhoods. Social,
demographic and political changes still ripple through the city.
In the mostly black Lower Ninth Ward, devastated by the flooding,
Charles Brown is still attending services in his pastor's nearly
empty living room, waiting for the day when Mount Nebo Bible Baptist
Church is rebuilt.
The black population of the city, long a hub of African-American
culture, has plummeted since Aug. 29, 2005, the day Katrina swept in
from the Gulf of Mexico and overwhelmed the levees meant to prevent
flooding in the low-lying city.
Income gaps between blacks and whites have widened. Many
African-American neighborhoods and the businesses supporting them
have not fully recovered.
 Brown's family and neighbors were among more than 1 million
evacuated from the region after Katrina, which exposed deep poverty
in the city, and displaced more people than any other event since
the Dust Bowl drought and dust storms of the 1930s.
Brown, an emergency responder, stayed behind to search for the
missing.
"We should have made so much more progress," said the 55-year-old
Brown in an interview before a series of events the city is planning
this month to mark the storm's 10th anniversary. "I don't see
anything to celebrate."
The population of New Orleans is now about 385,000, according to
U.S. Census figures from 2014, representing about 80 percent of its
pre-Katrina population.
The number of African-Americans has plunged by nearly 100,000 since
the storm, while there are now about 10,000 fewer white residents,
according to Census figures and the Data Center, a local nonprofit
tracking demographic and economic trends.
Before the hurricane, African-Americans comprised 67 percent of the
population. By 2014, that dwindled to 60 percent, the Census
reported.
Orleans Parish, which has the same boundaries as the city of New
Orleans, is the only county or parish in the United States with at
least 4,500 African-Americans that experienced such a steep decline
between 2000 and 2010, a Reuters analysis found, based on the Census
counts before and after Katrina.
Some of the black population moved out to the suburbs, the Data
Center notes, and some gradually are moving back. Every year since
2010, the city's African-American population has increased, adding
on average several thousand residents.
Yet some who came back say they live in a different New Orleans.
Tracie L. Washington, director of the nonprofit Louisiana Justice
Institute, returned to New Orleans after evacuating. Today she says
something feels off in the city.
She compares it to a missed beat in the brass band parades, called
second lines, that weave through its traditionally African-American
neighborhoods on many Sundays.
"I'm just one of the survivors," she said. "There shouldn’t be so
few."
SOCIAL DISRUPTION
The scale of the exodus reveals itself clearly in the Lower Ninth,
one of the only communities that has fewer than half as many
residents as it did a decade ago. Boarded-up windows, caved-in roofs
and overgrown lots are common sights.
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Lower-income households in this neighborhood and others were
particularly disrupted by the loss of a relative or neighbor to
provide transportation to see a doctor, or help babysit. "That was
a very unique piece of the fabric of New Orleans," said Erika
McConduit-Diggs, president of the Urban League of Greater New
Orleans, which advocates for African-Americans and other underserved
groups. "What Katrina did was break down a lot of those social
networks, and I think that has also had an impact on our recovery."
With the shifting composition of its electorate, post-Katrina New
Orleans has elected, at various points, a majority-white city
council, a white district attorney and a white mayor, which had not
been seen in decades.
"That was something that no one ever would have thought would
happen," said Edward Chervenak, director of the Survey Research
Center at the University of New Orleans. "The politics changed."
Mayor Mitch Landrieu hasn't given up on bringing more people home.
He is planning trips this month to Atlanta and Houston, where many
of the displaced relocated, a city official said. He can tout new
medical facilities and schools that have been overhauled as signs
that New Orleans is rising again after a long decline.
INCOME GAP WIDENS
Yet the income gap between black and white residents has widened,
according to the local Urban League. In 2013, the median income for
African-American households in New Orleans was $25,102, compared to
$60,553 for white households. The disparity has increased by 37
percent since 2005, according to figures from the Urban League.
"The folks who are benefiting from the most positive trends are the
white community, whereas the African-American community by and large
has not benefited in the same way," said Allison Plyer, chief
demographer at the Data Center.
 Among those who left and still want to go home is Philoraine
Skipper, who was rescued from a second-story window when flood
waters engulfed her house.
She was evacuated to the Superdome arena, where she was reunited
with her two daughters, and eventually went with family to Oklahoma,
where she still lives.
"We will be coming back," said the 69-year-old, choking back tears
as she described her long and unplanned departure, and her
excitement visiting New Orleans this week to continue her house
repairs. "This is home."
(Additional reporting by Michael Pell in New York and Kathy Finn in
New Orleans; Editing by Frank McGurty and Frances Kerry)
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