Hurricane Rita Displaces Gulf Coast Black Communities One Month After Katrina

Hurricane Rita struck the Louisiana-Texas border on September 24, 2005, less than four weeks after Katrina. Predominantly Black communities in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, and Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas were devastated. Many Black evacuees who had fled Katrina were still in shelters when Rita hit. FEMA's response was again slower to majority-Black areas; housing aid applications from Black households in Rita-affected zones were denied at higher rates than comparable white applicants.