Engineers fix levee to pump out filthy water

Filthy water was slowly pumped out of New Orleans today after engineers fixed the ruptured levee that flooded 80% of the city.

It will take weeks to fully drain every neighbourhood and months longer to clean-up the toxic slick of rubbish, oil and dead bodies left behind.

Mayor Ray Nagin warned that what lies beneath the stagnant water would be revolting.

“It’s going to be awful and it’s going to wake the nation up again,” he told NBC.

But despite the grim task ahead, notable progress was being made.

“I’ve gone from anger to despair to seeing us turn the corner,” Mayor Nagin said.

Helicopters closed the 300-ft breach with more than 200 3,000lbs sandbags.

The Air Force concluded its massive airlift of elderly and serious ill patients from a makeshift hospital at New Orleans airport.

Almost 10,000 patients and other evacuees were airlifted from New Orleans alone.

Some 51,000 troops have been deployed to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, working around the clock to regain order amid the chaos.

Engineers have begun working to restore electricity and authorities are considering using planes to spray mosquitoes that could spread disease. A suspected outbreak of dysentery has already been reported in Biloxi, Mississippi.

New Orleans was virtually a ghost town. Officials toured the silent city in boats, urging those remaining to get out because of health hazards.

Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley said the city had been “completely destroyed” and begged those hanging on to leave.

“We are working with them to try to convince them that there is no reason, no jobs, no food, no reason for them to stay,” he said.

But hundreds have refused to leave their homes and are forced to scavenge for food. They wade waist deep through murky water, using floating shopping trolleys to carry whatever they can find.

Mayor Nagin said it would not be “unreasonable” if the city’s death toll topped 10,000.

Experts have warned that many will never be identified, their bodies too badly decomposed by the water and heat before they were found.

The mass exodus of evacuees continued and a state of emergency was declared in 10 states, allowing federal funds to be released At least 250,000 people were housed in 700 shelters across the US.

In Houston, Texas, the Astrodome was renamed Astro City as part of an attempt to create a semblance of civilisation.

Banking facilities were established and school buses amassed to ferry children to local schools.

The US government distributed $138m of designer-label counterfeit items seized over the years.

More than 100,000 items, including clothes, toys, clean sheets and blankets have been made available and more will follow.