Louisiana officials say the levee break that caused most of the flooding in New Orleans has been repaired one week after Hurricane Katrina, and engineers are starting to pump water out of the city. They say the 17th Street canal breach was sealed Monday after helicopters dropped scores of massive sandbags into break. But officials warn it could take months to dry out the city.
New Orleans Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley says the city is completely destroyed and told any remaining survivors to leave immediately. Rescuers are searching house to house for any survivors as efforts are made to collect bodies that litter the entire city. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says the death toll could reach 10,000.
Earlier Monday, President Bush made a second tour of hurricane ravaged areas. He stopped in Louisiana and Mississippi amid widespread criticism of the federal government's slow response to the disaster.
Meanwhile, governors, emergency officials and volunteers are rushing to feed, clothe and shelter more than half-a-million people evacuated from the devastated Gulf Coast region. The U.S. government has sent more than 50,000 active duty and reserve troops to the region to help.