Searchers smashed through doors in New Orleans, bringing their hunt for the dead to homes that had been locked and to blocks hardest hit by Katrina’s flooding.

TO the estimated 10,000 residents still holed up in this ruined city, the mayor had a blunt new warning: get out now or risk being taken out by force.

As flood waters receded, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin authorised police and the US military to force the evacuation of all residents who refuse to heed orders to leave the dark, dangerous city.