Last Updated: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 20:21 GMT 21:21 UK
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'Desperate SOS' for New Orleans
Flood victims walk the street in front of the Convention Center in New Orleans, 1 September
Tens of thousands of people are still waiting to be evacuated
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has issued a "desperate SOS" for thousands of people stranded with no food or water at the city's convention centre.

Up to 25,000 people are at the centre, in addition to tens of thousands more still trapped by the flood waters unleashed by Hurricane Katrina.

The state governor has called for 40,000 troops to restore order after a spate of lawlessness, AFP reports.

President George W Bush plans to visit the disaster zones on Friday.

Launching an appeal for financial help, President Bush said this was an agonising time for the people of the Gulf coast but he promised help was on its way.


There are rescue workers risking their lives to save people trapped in their homes, and now these heroes and the survivors are in danger from armed looters
Jessica Marrero
New Orleans

Your Katrina experiences
President Bush responds
Bush under fire in press
Hundreds or even thousands of people are feared to have drowned in New Orleans. In Mississippi, 110 people are confirmed dead, but officials warn the toll is expected to rise.

In New Orleans, people made homeless by the flooding have grown increasingly desperate.

There are reports of shootings, carjackings and thefts across the city. Earlier, medical evacuations from the Superdome were disrupted after a gun shot was fired at a rescue helicopter.

Outside the convention centre, people were chanting: "We want help".

Mayor Nagin made his appeal in a statement read out by CNN.

"Right now we are out of resources at the convention centre and don't anticipate enough buses," he said.

"Currently the convention centre is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 25,000 people."

The mayor has ordered the total evacuation of the city, most of which remains under water.

More than a million people fled before the hurricane arrived on Monday, but at least 100,000 were unwilling or unable to leave.

At the city's Superdome stadium, the numbers of people seeking refuge has swelled to at least 20,000 and conditions there are appalling. Mass evacuations are under way.

The first bus-loads of people have arrived at Houston's Astrodome stadium in Texas, 560km (350 miles) away, where beds and blankets for up to 25,000 people have been set up.

The most vulnerable are going to the Louisiana state capital, Baton Rouge.
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People have lost everything. Some who have made it out of New Orleans have no place to stay. Most residents being helped to leave are being taken in buses to Houston's Astrodome stadium.

Prisoners in the city were among those stranded by the floodwaters - which carry the threat of contamination and disease.

There is no drinking water or electricity in the city. Power is unlikely to be restored for a month or more.

Rescuers are still struggling to reach stranded survivors, desperate to leave. Many have been wading through the waters to try to find transport out of the city.

Last Updated: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 19:47 GMT 20:47 UK
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Anarchy disrupts US storm relief
New Orleans residents sit near ticket windows at the Superdome stadium
It is hot and humid in the stadium and toilets are overflowing
Looting and lawlessness is widespread in flood-stricken New Orleans as people made homeless by Hurricane Katrina grow increasingly desperate.

There are reports of shootings, carjackings and thefts across the city, where a full evacuation is under way.

Medical evacuations from the Superdome stadium have been disrupted after a gun shot was fired at a rescue helicopter.

President George W Bush, who will visit the disaster area on Friday, called for "zero tolerance" against law-breakers.

Map of central New Orleans

His Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said more national guards were being sent in the next few days - more than quadrupling the number of security personnel in the city.

Hundreds or even thousands of people are feared to have drowned in New Orleans, where the hurricane struck on Monday.


There's an old lady over there dead in the chair
Unidentified woman

Accounts of flood chaos
President Bush responds

The government has declared a public health emergency along the whole of the Gulf coast. In Mississippi, 110 people are confirmed dead, but officials warn the toll is expected to rise.

Suspending the helicopter rescues at the Superdome, a spokesman for the Louisiana ambulance service told the BBC the crowd had grown unruly and he was concerned for the safety of his staff.

Overnight, a national guard was shot outside the stadium, but he was not seriously injured, a National Guard officer said.

City in exile

More than a million people were evacuated from the New Orleans and the surrounding areas before the hurricane struck, but Mayor Ray Nagin has estimated that up to 100,000 people decided to stay in the city.

During the storm, more than 9,000 people took shelter at the Superdome, but once the extent of the damage became clear the numbers swelled to 20,000.

Conditions there have sharply deteriorated and a massive evacuation is under way.

Mayor Nagin, ordering all residents to abandon the low-lying city, has warned it will be months before people can return to their homes.


Evacuation efforts in New Orleans

In pictures

Bus-loads of people are being taken 560km (350 miles) away to Houston's Astrodome stadium in Texas, where beds and blankets for up to 25,000 people have been set up. The most vulnerable are going to the Louisiana state capital, Baton Rouge.

The BBC's Alistair Leithead in New Orleans says there is a feeling of foreboding as those marooned become more desperate.

There is no electricity, and people who have lost everything are struggling to find food and clean water.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," Rev Issac Clark told the Associated Press news agency outside the city's convention centre, where dead bodies are still lying in the open.

People have faced shoot-outs and some reports say martial law has been imposed in some areas. Armed gangs have moved into some hotels.

Some have been breaking into shops, houses, hospitals and office buildings.

Thieves used a forklift truck to break into a pharmacy, AP news agency reports, while dozens of carjackings have been reported.

'Devastating'

Louisiana state Governor Kathleen Blanco said she was "furious" at the growing crime wave.


There are rescue workers risking their lives to save people trapped in their homes, and now these heroes and the survivors are in danger from armed looters
Jessica Marrero
New Orleans

Your Katrina experiences
Bush under fire in press

She has asked Washington to send more people to help with the relief mission, to free National Guard troops to concentrate on looters.

In Mississippi, curfews are in place in the hard-hit towns of Biloxi and Gulfport as the authorities try to prevent the scale of looting seen in New Orleans.

President Bush, who flew over flood-stricken areas on Wednesday, compared the devastation to the 11 September 2001 attacks.

"It is so devastating that it is hard to describe it. 9/11 was a man made attack. This was a natural disaster," he said.

"New Orleans is more devastated than New York was - and just physically devastated as is the coast of Mississippi so we've got a lot of work to do and we'll get it done." 

Last Updated: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 02:41 GMT 03:41 UK
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Katrina scatters a grim diaspora
By Will Walden
BBC News, in Baton Rouge, La & Memphis, Tn

The only certainty here now is uncertainty.

Across the south hundreds of thousands of Americans have been unceremoniously dumped: displaced by Katrina in rest stops and hotel lobbies; among strangers in shelters and in hospitals.

And for most there is no going back, for weeks, and more probably, months.
Three-year-old girl who fled to Florida with her parents
Many families who made it out have no place to stay

They sleep where they can.

The lucky ones, and they are indeed the lucky ones, have hotel rooms.

Entire families crowd into one room with little information, power that comes and goes, and no air conditioning.

For some, who thought initially Katrina wasn't as bad as the authorities had predicted, fate has dealt them a cruel hand.

Having checked out for the long journey home, they now find themselves back in hotel lobbies across the state pleading to have their rooms back.

The rooms of course have been filled with others seeking refuge.

Doubles

In one hotel, the only TV that works is in the bar, so the barman is doing a roaring trade in doubles, and strong doubles at that.

Little money appears to be changing hands.

Destroyed houses in Long Beach, Mississippi
Returning south is no longer an option
People can't watch the big American TV networks as there is no cable, and no one to repair it.

So instead, they watch the local news stations - stations offering just a snapshot of the worsening picture in Biloxi, Gulfport and in particular New Orleans.

And that's where the doubles come in.

Most people in Baton Rouge are from the suburbs around the Big Easy, and every now and again they'll let out an audible sigh as they recognize their own community and presumably their own house, submerged at best, but in many cases, simply not there anymore.

At this point most reach for the cellphone in the hope that those who stayed are safe.

But there is no dialing tone, just a recorded message that says "Sorry - all circuits are busy - please try again later".

It is the new norm. These people have nowhere to go.

Airport focus

At Baton Rouge airport they have been sleeping on the floor.

Tourists, victims, people who are simply stuck.


They are smiling, but the smiles are tired, worn and very, very battered
In the case of those who have lost homes, and there are many, it is a case of waiting for flights that will take them to relatives across the United States.

All this takes place within earshot of the constant clatter of rotor blades.

The men and women of the Louisiana Air National Guard are busy loading food, water and medical supplies onto Blackhawk helicopters.

There are many helicopters, landing and leaving like a bizarre scene from Vietnam portrayed by the Hollywood studios.

Only this scene is real.

At the airport there is cable TV. So no-one talks, they just sit and watch. Not since the aftermath of 9/11 does it seem America's airports have been so quiet or so focused on one thing.

No road south

And in Memphis, Tennessee, they are 400 miles north but they have much in common with that other famous American city of music, New Orleans.

This is not least because Memphis, functioning normally with power food and running water, is now home to many from New Orleans.

Today, less than 36 hours after initial relief turned to horror, they are packing their cars again and heading off.

Normally they would be heading south - back home to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

On Wednesday I watched one young couple packing their smart VW Golf. They had two suitcases and a couple of backpacks and could have been starting a road trip or a holiday.

They are not, of course.

They are headed to Florida and the safety of mum and dad. What they have with them is all they have left.

Typically they are smiling, but the smiles are tired, worn and very, very battered.

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Last Updated: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 16:34 GMT 17:34 UK
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Towards the eye of the hurricane
BBC News website reporter Richard Greene is en route to New Orleans. Here he shares his experience of the journey and the people he met along the way.

Petrol station, Mobile, Alabama : 1540 GMT

London was revelling in an unexpectedly beautiful late-summer day when I left on Wednesday - the parks full of sunbathers, the DJs joyously playing In the Summertime and A Lovely Day.

But no sooner was I on the plane to Atlanta, Georgia, than the mood shifted.

"Can I borrow your newspaper?", a flight attendant asked the man in the seat behind me.

He gave her a blank look.

"I'm from New Orleans," she said.

Queue at a petrol stastion in Mobile
There is a sense of solidarity across the affected areas

His demeanour changed immediately: "Of course," he said. "Take it."

Suddenly the strangers on the plane were a community: "I'm from New Orleans, too."

"Where? Where's your family? Are they OK? Yeah, they made it to Atlanta. They're in Houston. I'm from Florida, I know what you're going through."

On the ground in Mobile, Alabama - about an hour from Biloxi, Mississippi, one of the worst-affected areas - the mood of solidarity prevails.

The woman hiring out cars at the airport is hosting a family whose home was destroyed.

Warehouse-like supermarkets proudly hoist banners saying: "We're open."

And indeed, although the man next to me as we entered the store wondered aloud if there would be any food, the shelves were stocked and the famous Southern charm was much in evidence.

Every interaction included a question about how my day was going and a genuine-sounding wish that I have a good one.

And on the roads, the drivers are unfailingly polite in their enormous pick-up trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Even where I am at the moment - in a long queue for petrol.

The woman at the hire-car agency said her husband had waited three hours for fuel yesterday.

At times like these, I'm grateful for the Southern charm, because it's 90 degrees Fahrenheit ( 32C) at 10am.

It's going to get hotter and stay hot late into the night, and people seem to sense intuitively that politeness is more important than ever.


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