Katrina death toll: 1 200

2005-10-05 08:01

New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina left at least 1 209 people dead in the southern United States, officials said on Tuesday, as the search for victims of the storm was called off.

In Louisiana, hardest-hit by Katrina, state health officials said the death toll from the August 29 storm had reached 972.

"State, federal and local teams have ended the official search phase of the body recovery mission," the state Department of Health and Hospitals added in a statement. "State-supported recovery teams are available to assist should a body be found that must be recovered."

Tara Lachney of the health department told AFP that more bodies are likely to be found in the mud-caked wreckage of homes and businesses, especially in the obliterated poor Lower Ninth Ward neighbourhood in New Orleans.

Floodwater was still being pumped from the ward on Tuesday, and there has been talk of the area being bulldozed instead of rebuilt.

State officials have reported 221 deaths from Katrina in Mississippi, 14 in Florida and two in Alabama.

- AFP