Katrina: Search for bodies ends

2005-10-04 17:25

New Orleans - Officials have ended their door-to-door sweep for corpses finding far fewer bodies than once feared as New Orleans revved up efforts to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

The search for Katrina victims ended in Louisiana with a death toll substantially less than the 10 000 victims some officials feared.

A private company hired by the state to remove bodies was on call if any others were found.

The toll on Tuesday stood at 972, eight more than on Monday, the state health department said.

The death toll probably will continue to rise, but authorities have said sweeps yielded fewer bodies than feared, and that the toll was likely to be well below the dire projections.

Mayor Ray Nagin said soon after Katrina struck that New Orleans alone could have 10 000 dead.

"There might still be bodies found - for instance, if a house was locked and nobody able to go into it," said Bob Johannessen, a spokesperson with the state department of health and hospitals.

Mississippi's death toll remained at 221.

Levees

The US army corps of engineers continues pumping water out of the lower Ninth Ward and efforts to rebuild the levees that breached, causing water to cascade into the city, remained under way.

However, two canals near the area were closed on Monday as a precaution, because of stronger-than-normal winds and higher tides, spokesperson Alan Dooley said.

As of late Monday afternoon, a steady stream of water leaked through the repaired levees.

Electricity had been restored to about 36% of New Orleans customers and to about 99% of the customers in neighbouring Jefferson Parish, said a spokesperson.

And as another sign that the city was coming back to life, nine ships - including four container vessels - were scheduled to call on the Port of New Orleans this week, port officials announced.

- AP