The much needed reprieve was granted on Sunday when Hurricane Ernesto – which had at one point been heading straight for the city - veered off to the east and was downgraded to a tropical storm.
But hurricane season is heading into its busiest time, "We can't let down our guard," warned Gil Jaimeson, who heads the federal government's reconstruction efforts in the Gulf Coast.
Officials have tried to assure residents that there will not be a repeat of the chaos, death and despair that followed the flooding of 80 percent of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast killing more than 1,500 people.
In place now, an evacuation plan which includes buses, trains and planes to take people and their pets out of the danger zone. There are also fewer people living in the most dangerous low lying areas.
But the city and its residents are vulnerable. The city’s failed levee system has been repaired but not yet reinforced and more than 80,000 families across Louisiana are still living in trailers that can only withstand light winds.
Washed away
"If it starts to rain hard I'll be out," said jazz musician Marlon Jordan who spent five days trapped on his roof after his Upper Ninth Ward home filled with three metres of water.
A big fear is that another storm could wash away the limited progress which has been made repairing the city's damaged buildings and infrastructure.
"It's going to happen and it's going to happen worse - that wasn't a big storm," said Julie Jacobs, 50, who wore a t-shirt that read 'make levees not war' to a memorial concert.
Ms Jacobs says the officials have not done enough to protect the city and help steer it towards recovery.
The city’s reconstruction plan is expected at the end of the year, prompting many people to delay rebuilding their flood ravaged home until they have a concrete idea of what shape the new city will take.
Others are still waiting for insurance settlements and the promised government grants that have been caught up in a maze of bureaucratic red tape.
The result is that while the French Quarter and other areas which escaped the floods have returned to normal, entire neighbourhoods remain abandoned. The pace of progress has depended the feeling of abandonment for many families, with a recent poll showing that 30 percent of those who have returned to New Orleans are considering leaving.