With release of parish population counts Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, state officials now have solid proof of the demographic effect of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The parishes most severely hit by the two storms —Orleans St. Bernard, Jefferson and Plaquemines by Katrina and Cameron by Rita — showed dramatic losses in population. Parishes near them grew.

Lafayette Parish — with a 16.3 percent gain — now has a population of 221,578 and is among parishes expected to pickup legislative representation. The House and Senate will use what is expected to be numerous sheets of data and population maps to assemble new election districts for the Legislature, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Public Service Commission and Congress.

Other nearby parishes showed gains as well. Vermilion Parish grew from 53,807 people to 57,999, or 7.78 percent. St. Martin Parish gained 7.36 percent, to 52,160. St. Landry Parish gained 4.92 percent, housing 83,384 residents. Acadia Parish also showed a 4.65 percent gain, to 61,773.

Overall, the state gained 64,396 people since the 2000 Census, bringing the census count to 4.533 million from almost 4.469 million 10 years ago. Thousands of Hurricane evacuees were bused or flown out of the state and never returned.

"For the most part, the estimates we had were pretty good," said State Rep. Rick Gallot, a Ruston Democrat who chairs of the House and Governmental Affairs Committee. "The estimate was about 40,000 off but the areas we felt would have growth did have growth and the areas we thought would have losses did lose population. That's a good indication of the reliability of the formula used to make the estimates."

Ascension Parish showed the greatest gain — 39.92 percent — and Livingston Parish, near Baton Rouge, grew 39.44 percent. St. Bernard was the biggest loser, down 49.6 percent, followed by Cameron Parish, which lost 31.55 percent of its population.

Orleans lost its claim as having the largest population in the state, down from 484,624 to 343,829 — a 29 percent drop.

East Baton Rouge Parish grew from 412,852 to 440,171 to become the state's most populous parish. Jefferson, at 432,552 — down 22,914 from 10 years ago — is second largest.

Population in north Louisiana farming communities dropped significantly, led by Tensas falling 20.64 percent, but grew dramatically in Bossier Parish —up 18.99 percent to 116,979.

Because of the population, shift, new legislative districts are likely and old ones would be merged. And because the state did not grow as much as other states, one of the seven congressional districts has to be eliminated.

Gallot said his staff and that of the comparable committee in the Senate, chaired by state Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe, already are analyzing the basic census data and are expecting much more detail next week.

"What we have now is nowhere close to where it will be," Gallot said. "We're still several days away from being able to chart our course."