The estimate is 40k homes lost/damaged in the Houston area.

Even if we assumed 200,000 were lost (5x more than the estimate) and then take that from 2.3 million in Houston city limits alone (instead of the 6 million in the Houston area) that would give you ~8.7% of homes lost.

Even if it were 10%, that would not be enough to drastically reduce the population of the 4th largest city, which is also a major business and energy hub.

You can't compare it to Katrina in New Orleans for a couple reasons.

During Katrina more than a 1000 lives were lost. Damn near the entirety of New Orleans is also below sea level, right on the coast, and dependent on the levees holding up for safety. There was so much damage widespread damage that most of those affected fled to Houston, and they ended up staying.

Compare that to Houston. A lot of the heavily damaged areas flood because of separate reservoirs, levees, and bayous spilling over, while others held up or only affected those areas next door. There were a couple levees that failed and compounded issues in a different parts of the city, but that is not comparable to the New Orleans levee issue. Likewise, two of the largest reservoirs experienced a controlled release to minimize impact.

People needing to evacuate their homes in the Houston area are notaking a massive exodus to New Orleans or San Antonio or Austin. Whole some did go there, it's largely temporarily as there was still large chunks of Houston unaffected. Those people, if needing to relocate, will most likely relocate to an area in Houston that was not affected.

So again the point I'm making is not to minimize the destruction and tragic events that hit my city, but to dispel this notion that you and others in this sub seem to be convinced of - that the population of Houston (and economy) is going to be severely reduced due to this event.