Not absorb more money - study.
I'll bet that 1/2 of NO citizens never comes back. They will be better off after the event with their new situations. As with most any event, it will have both positive and negative effects. Hopefully, the poverty hole known as New Orleans will have been washed away by the storm, never to return.
Don't hold your breath.
Money is power and there will be dump trucks of cash flowing to the area from the government (employed Americans). Those in power in N.O. and other areas will do everything possible to control the flow and allocation of funds (and likely cut a little slice for themselves). I expect the people (and school age children) of N.O. will be right back where they were 2 weeks ago - when this is all over. I also expect that we will hear stories of record setting corruption/ kickbacks /skimming in the coming years even with the best possible oversight from Washington.
And the school system's finances were in such disarray the state nearly took control. Instead financial control was handed off to Alvarez & Marsal, a New York firm, which recently cleaned up St. Louis's school system by shuttering schools, laying off staff and otherwise cutting waste. In New Orleans the waste wouldn't be hard to find. One problem was retired and even deceased teachers still on the payroll.
I bet they were still on the voter rolls too.