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Hurricane Katrina...Michael Buchanan reports.

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Eddie Mair | 11:15 UK time, Friday, 27 August 2010

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, five years ago this weekend, around a quarter of million people headed to Houston for food, shelter and medical attention. Though most have since returned, tens of thousands decided they'd try to build a new lives for themselves in Texas and tonight we'll hear some of their stories.

Though initially welcomed, Houston turned on the evacuees, blaming them for a rise in crime and accusing them of sponging off the system.

Lisa Errol Ethan

Erroll and Lisa Donahue, seen here with their five-year-old son Ethan (who does a mean line in Michael Jackson songs), felt some of the backlash despite the fact they found jobs. Lisa's colleagues accused her - and other evacuees - of being lazy and ignorant.

Aaron Spells

Aaron Spells was constantly drawn into fights at school simply because he came from New Orleans.

I met Aaron when I attended church in Houston, the New Home Family Worship Centre, which was specially built for what the pastor Robert Blakes calls the 'diaspora' from New Orleans.

Pastor Blakes

Pastor Blakes, here on the left conducting a baptism, says the reason so many people stayed is because there are better economic and educational opportunities in Houston than there are in New Orleans. He commutes between the two cities every weekend to conduct services and hopes the better chances the kids from New Orleans have in Houston will benefit their old city in time.

Angel Lane

While the future may be bright, the present is a bit dull for those youngsters who live on Angel Lane, a street of houses built in Houston specially for Katrina evacuees with help from Oprah Winfrey.

Ninth Ward House

The kids miss their music, their grandparents and their food, especially the seafood. But this is what some have left behind - the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, five years after the hurricane hit.

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