NEW Orleans awaited the reopening of its airport and waterfront yesterday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit, as the coroner planned autopsies on at least 44 patients found dead at a flooded hospital.

The port of New Orleans reopened, and the airport awaited its first commercial flights today since Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore more than two weeks ago.

The evacuation of Hurricane Katrina refugees from the Superdome in New Orleans was suspended today after shots were fired at a military helicopter, an ambulance official overseeing the operation said. No immediate injuries were reported.

With thousands feared dead and the city’s remaining residents told to evacuate for weeks, conditions deteriorated further in submerged New Orleans today as looting spiralled out of control.