Will Texans Displaced By Harvey Return To The Gulf Coast?

While it’s difficult to predict the future with certainty, an expert says population recovery will depend on the availability of employment.

By Kate Groetzinger & Rhonda FanningSeptember 10, 2017 12:37 pm,

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, many left the city for good, causing long-term demographic changes in the Big Easy. Now Hurricane Harvey has devastated East Texas, displacing entire communities in its path. The question now is: will Houstonians leave the city for good? What about places like Beaumont and Port Aransas?

Steve Murdock, who has tracked the changing face of Texas for decades as state demographer and now, director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University says Harvey will bring changes to the Gulf Coast.

 

What you’ll hear in this segment:

-How many Texans were impacted by Harvey, and where

-Why the storm’s effects will likely influence movement of Texans to areas with very large employers

-What Harvey’s destruction could mean for the future of Texas’ rural communities

 

Written by Rachel Zein.