New Orleans braces itself as flood waters recede

The floodwaters that caused so much misery and death in New Orleans were being pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain today as rescue crews from as far away as California trolled the evacuated city for stragglers and authorities braced for what the receding deluge would reveal.

The US Army Corps of Engineers began pumping water out of the flooded city today after closing a major gap in the levee that burst during Hurricane Katrina.