Floods recede, fires hinder rescue

Engineers pumped floodwaters out of the streets of New Orleans yesterday, although fires raging across the devastated city hindered efforts to find those who survived Hurricane Katrina and the thousands feared dead in a disaster that has shaken America.

Black smoke billowed across the sky from several building fires and the mayor pleaded with survivors who insist on staying in their homes to get out immediately.

"It is a health risk. There are toxins in the water, there are gas leaks where we may have explosions. We are fighting at least four fires right now and we don't have running water. It is not safe," Mayor Ray Nagin said.

Oil floating on the toxic waters could mingle with flaming gas leaks. "If these two unite, God bless us," he said.

After days of broken promises, aid efforts have now picked up and water was being pumped out of the city after the US Army Corps of Engineers plugged a major gap in levees that were overwhelmed when Katrina tore in on August 29.

Flood levels in some areas were said to have dropped 30 cm, but it will still take weeks to dry the city out.

Rescue teams expect to find thousands of bloated bodies once the flood waters have been pumped out.

A full eight days after Katrina tore in, sending deep flood waters from Lake Pontchartrain cascading into the home of jazz and Mardi Gras, very few bodies have even been recovered.

Louisiana's official death toll stands at just 71 but authorities say it will climb into the thousands. In neighboring Mississippi, 170 were confirmed dead, but many more are feared to have perished inside the debris.

Rescue teams sent dozens of boats and helicopters into flooded neighborhoods to rescue remaining survivors, while other helicopters dropped water onto building fires.

In drier areas, rescuers offered residents food if they agreed to be evacuated.

New Orleans' famous French Quarter was a militarised zone with 82nd Airborne Division troops patrolling in formation, road blocks set up and Texas sheriffs in cowboy hats riding on horseback through streets that used to host some of the most famous outdoor parties in America.

It was a clear show of force to criminal gangs that ran wild, looting and shooting, in the days after Katrina. Firefighters said the flooding made it tough to tackle the fires breaking out around the city and that the blazes were in turn taking crucial resources away from rescue efforts.

They said fires were caused by people using candles in the old, wooden buildings of many New Orleans neighborhoods. Bungled rescue efforts in the first days of the crisis and a slew of dramatic images that made New Orleans look more like the scene of a Third World refugee crisis have touched off a political crisis for President George W. Bush.

Mr Bush said yesterday he would lead an investigation to find out what happened with the emergency operation, but he resisted growing demands for an immediate probe.

"There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right, and what went wrong. What I'm interested (in) is helping save lives," he said.