This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington.

A year ago today, Katrina loomed just off the Gulf Coast. When it came ashore, the gigantic storm would batter 90,000 square miles, an area the size of Great Britain. We've all seen the pictures of houses reduced to matchsticks in Mississippi and survivors clinging to rooftops above the rising water in New Orleans.

According to the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding, Katrina forced 800,000 citizens to leave their homes, making it the largest displacement of people in this country since the great Dust Bowl migrations of the 1930s. Some didn't go too far, and they found shelter with friend, family, and friends nearby. Houston and other cities in Texas welcomed survivors, and the rest scattered across the country to Atlanta, Memphis, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, even Anchorage.

A year later, New Orleans is half the size it used to be, and housing is still scarce on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Some of those who fled are back. Some can't wait to return. Others have already established new lives in new places.

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Today, we folded into this discussion about Katrina. Joel Kotkin's op-ed from last week's Los Angeles Times asked the question where did the Gulf Coasters go? And provided some answers. Joel Kotkin is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation - author of The City: A Global History. He's also working on a study about upward mobility in Houston. And he joins us today from the studios of member station KPCC in Pasadena, California. And nice to have you on TALK OF THE NATION today...

To listen to the interview, please visit the NPR website.