GULF COAST New residents in Katrina's wake

An overwhelming Hispanic community has repopulated New Orleans.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hurricanes Katrina and Rita drove an estimated 450,000 people from their communities along the Gulf Coast last year, but in the storms' wake Hispanics moved in -- perhaps 100,000 or more.
New government estimates show a region decimated by population losses four months after the storms. Orleans Parish in Louisiana lost 279,000 people, and nearby St. Bernard Parish lost 61,000, or 95 percent of its residents.
Hispanics, however, swept in by the tens of thousands, according to estimates released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
Jose Rios, a Mexican immigrant from Eagle Point, Texas, runs a food trailer near a spot in New Orleans where dozens of immigrants wait each morning to be picked up for a day's work.
"Every time you look up on the roofs, the guys doing the hard work, they're all Hispanic," said Rios, 36.
Guillermo Meneses, spokesman for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said, "Where you see work and the opportunity for work, you will see Latinos."
The Census Bureau released population estimates Tuesday for 117 counties and parishes along the Gulf Coast for the period before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and for Jan. 1, about four months afterward. The counties -- all in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas -- had been designated for hurricane assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Survey problems
Census officials cautioned that there weren't many people to count in some areas four months after the storm, creating larger margins of error than in most census studies. Also, the region has changed since January, with more residents returning to some areas.
Steve Murdock, a demographer at the University of Texas San Antonio, said, "It's a mistake to think that these numbers provide of a comprehensive look at the effects of Katrina. They provide a certain snapshot, but they are clearly only a partial picture."
In New Orleans, demographer Greg Rigamer estimated the city has rebounded to at least 221,000 people since January, or about half the size it was before the storms.