refugee has a narrow, legal definition in international law, meaning "cross-border" and "to escape persecution". And that is also a special meaning of refugee outside of intl law. But intl law doesn't apply within USA, unless one considers Texas still to a Republic.
Refugee has been demonized, denigrated, and "pejoratized" for no good reason.
Anyone "seeking refuge" from anything is a refugee, imo.
And, no, the there is no justification for making up yet another bogus word, which is often just an excuse and cover-up for not knowing how to use the appropriate word from several 100K English words. What the Nouvelle Orleannais have done is absolutely nothing new, and so doesn't need a new word.
evacuee: a person who is removed from his home or community in time of war or pressing danger as a protective measure <the villagers fed and housed the evacuees from the blitzed city>
... a perfectly applicable word, but since it has developed an odor of P.C. recently (aka euphemism = weasel word = lie), I prefer refugee. evacuee is an attempt to say that "refugees" is what happens to non-USA people in other countries, and doesn't happen to US citizens, superior and immune by definition.
