New Orleans has lost much of population

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- New Orleans' population dropped by 29 percent in the last decade, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

The bureau said workers counted 343,829 residents in New Orleans last year, down from 485,000 in 2000, a 29 percent drop, USA Today reported Friday.

The delta city has struggled to repopulate since 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which caused major floods that forced residents to flee.

Census data indicated 455,000 people lived in New Orleans before the storm.

The new data will affect plans for rebuilding portions of the city still ravaged by the floods, Allison Plyer, deputy director of the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, told USA Today.

"There's been a lot of uncertainty, not just about how many people are in New Orleans but how many people are in St. Bernard Parish and other parishes," Plyer said. "The most valid number will be the census number."

The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center helped establish earlier estimates through postal records and other means, USA Today said.

Even with the population drop, New Orleans is Louisiana's most populous city, census data indicated.