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Last Updated: Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 11:26 GMT 12:26 UK
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'If I evacuate, where do I go?'
New Orleans residents trudge through Canal Street
Survivors have been forced to wade through flooded streets
With the wind and rain gone, new dangers threaten New Orleans.
As water pours into the low-lying city, thousands who survived the wrath of Hurricane Katrina are now facing a desperate fight to reach high ground and clean water.
With power supplies down, small bands of survivors are holed up in high-rise buildings planning their next move.
Others roam the flooded streets without access to the official advice pouring out of still-functioning TV and radio stations.
James Smith, a security guard at the Community Wound Hospice in Greenville, New Orleans, has taken refuge alongside staff and patients on the hospital's fifth floor.
They are lucky: downstairs, three hospital vehicles are parked, undamaged, ready for someone to drive the group to safety.
There are people here walking on the streets, just wondering where to go. It's chaos here
James Smith
New Orleans security guard
"I'm concerned about what happens if the water arrives here, I really am," Mr Smith told the BBC from inside the hospital.
"But I'm more concerned about if I do evacuate, where to go? We don't know if we will run into water. We have three trucks, and we can probably go as far they will take us and then from there we will have to walk."
Confusion
With a generator keeping power supplies running within the hospital, Mr Smith and his group has kept up with developments by watching TV.
But he is far from impressed with what he sees.
New Orleans and Interstate 10 viewed from the air
The main interstate highway out of New Orleans is out of action
"I'm really upset with my city officials. They're not really giving us enough information where if we wanted to be rescued, how we go about being rescued, where to go," he said.
"They're not telling us none of that on the news, just telling us things we already know, like where there is flooding, or that the canal gate is still not fixed.
"Our main way out, Interstate 10, is flooded. We can't get out that way. So they'll tell us to get out, and we'll take heed, but where will we go?
"There are people here walking on the streets, just wondering where to go. People are getting hungry and breaking into stores to feed themselves. It's just chaos here."
Slow recovery
Not everyone has the same information.
Dennis Jarran Tanno has helped keep local TV station WWL on air throughout the storm and its aftermath.
As conditions worsened in New Orleans, police ordered his team to abandon their premises and head outside - towards the interstate.
"A couple of roads are still in use, and then you get to the high-rise interstate, and that's how we get across to the west bank of the Mississippi [river], which is actually pretty dry," he told the BBC.
With power unlikely to be restored for a month or more, there seems little immediate hope of respite.
Water needs to be drained and trees, cars and other debris cleared from the streets before the power can return.
"It's very upsetting, but it's understandable because you can't stop nature," Mr Smith said.
"I mean, everyone is sorry. But sorry is not enough."
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Last Updated: Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 20:04 GMT 21:04 UK
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'Thousands dead' in New Orleans
Man climbs on roof of church with fallen steeple
City under siege
Hurricane Katrina is thought to have killed hundreds, probably thousands of people in New Orleans, the city's mayor, Ray Nagin, has said.
Mr Nagin said there were significant numbers of corpses in the waters of the flood-stricken city, while many more people may be dead in their homes.
There would be a total evacuation of the city, he said, warning it could be months before residents could return.
Army engineers are still trying to plug breached flood defences with sandbags.
Meanwhile US President George W Bush has arrived in Washington to take charge of the recovery effort, cutting short a holiday in Texas.
With conditions still deteriorating, the government has declared a public health emergency along the whole of the Gulf coast, to speed up the delivery of food, water and fuel to the region.
Map of central New Orleans
Speaking in Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said 1,700 truckloads of essential supplies were on their way there.
Medical shelters are being set up offering 10,000 beds, while the US military is providing dozens of rescue helicopters and boats.
Disease problem
Mayor Nagin said he had no choice but to remove the 50,000 to 100,000 people left in the city when the hurricane struck.
Follow Katrina's path
"We have to. The city will not be functional for two to three months," he said.
He said dead bodies in the water would soon create a serious disease problem.
Survivors could be taken out at a rate of up to 15,000 a day.
Counting the dead remains a secondary priority until they are rescued, officials say.
Mr Bush flew low over the affected states to survey the damage, on his way to Washington from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Before the phones went, I was told [my family in Biloxi] had lost their roof, barn, 2 oak trees and many pines and they were letting in water
Natalie McVeigh
Oakley, England
Your Katrina experiences
Blogging Katrina
"It's totally wiped out," spokesman Scott McClellan quoted him as saying.
"It's devastating. It's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."
In Mississippi, officials have warned the death toll is likely to climb above the current 110.
Harrison County bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina as it slammed into Biloxi and Gulfport before heading inland.
Rising water
New Orleans has been plagued by looting, floods and increasingly desperate people, two days after the hurricane.
American Red Cross donations
www.redcross.org
tel (in the US): 1 800 HELP NOW
About a million people evacuated from the area before the hurricane struck, but tens of thousands of others are trapped in the city.
The authorities are planning to evacuate up to 20,000 people from the city's Superdome stadium where sanitary conditions are said to be appalling.
Four people believed to be elderly or infirm died there overnight, according to reports.
Surges of flood water have submerged more areas of the city after failed attempts to plug breaches in the barriers which are supposed to protect it.
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The pumps which usually assist are no longer working because of the rising levels.
The BBC's Alastair Leithead in New Orleans says there is panic as vital supplies run out. Heavily armed police have been trying to impose a form of martial law to stem looting.
While some looters are stealing non-essential goods, others are simply trying to find food and water.
Survivors are being found all the time.
In Mississippi, two children who lost their parents were taken to safety. In New Orleans, people are still being winched from roofs.
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LINKS TO MORE AMERICAS STORIES
BBC NEWS: VIDEO AND AUDIO
Coming Up graphic 2100GMT/2200BST: President Bush on the hurricane
Hurricane Katrina
KEY STORIES
'Thousands dead' in New Orleans
US dips into strategic oil stocks
Katrina damage 'could top $25bn'
Queen 'shocked' by US hurricane
EYEWITNESS
Man and woman on a canoe, New Orleans 'Where do I go?'
Survivors talk of the chaos and confusion in flooded New Orleans
'I can't find my wife's body'
Storm-hit New Orleans in turmoil
Images of destruction
'We lost everything a year ago'
BACKGROUND
New Orleans: Nature's revenge?
Map: Path of destruction
Map: Flooded New Orleans
Animated guide to hurricanes
VIDEO AND AUDIO
TV reports
INTERACTIVE
Appeals for missing people
Have you been affected?
Readers' experiences
Readers' pictures
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