President George W Bush is to apply to Congress for an additional $51.8 billion to pay for the relief and rebuilding efforts in the southern states devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House was "sparing no effort" to help the victims of the hurricane.
Earlier today, New Orleans police were ordered to completely evacuate any residents, using force if necessary, after Mayor Ray Nagin said the septic floodwaters in most of the city made it impossible for anyone to live there now.
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| Evacuee George Eskine comforts Joslyn Cash, who both escaped Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, were among 350 evacuees expected to be put up at the old Queen of Angels hospital, in Los Angeles, now know as the Dream Center. |
Flood levels in some areas were said to have dropped a foot (30 cm) but Mayor Ray Nagin said 60 per cent of the city was still under water, hampering efforts to recover the thousands of people feared killed in the hurricane and its aftermath.
Mr Nagin said the floodwaters were threatened those still clinging to the life they knew before Katrina hit the US Gulf Coast last week, with garbage, oil and putrefying bodies floating in the stagnant pools inundating New Orleans.
After days of trying to change the minds of some 10,000 people who have refused to leave, authorities began to enforce a mandatory evacuation. Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass said his men would evacuate residents, if necessary against their will.
"We'll do everything it takes to make this city safe. These people don't understand they're putting themselves in harm's way," Supt Compass said. But die-hard inhabitants of a city mainly known for jazz and Mardi Gras before it became a disaster area of Third-World proportions say they fear evacuation to parts of the country where they have no family or means of support.
Martha Smith-Aguillard (72) said she was brought against her will to an evacuation point at the city's wrecked convention center. Her foot was swollen after she trod on a rusty nail and she said she needed a tetanus shot.
Nonetheless, she refused to board a government helicopter. "They manhandled me and paid no mind to what I said. I ain't never been in no helicopter in my life, or no airplane, and I'm 72, I ain't starting now," she said.
"I'm not going to get that tetanus shot, so I guess I'll just have to die," she said, adding, "We're all going to die and if I'm going to die, it's gonna be right here in New Orleans."
In Washington, the political storm grew over responsibility for delays and disorganization in the relief response after the long-predicted storm punctured barriers protecting New Orleans, built below sea level, from an adjacent lake.
US President George W. Bush said he would lead an investigation into the emergency operation, but he resisted demands for an immediate probe. "There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right, and what went wrong.
What I'm interested (in) is helping save lives," he said. Mr Bush's response to the crisis was rated "bad" or "terrible" by 42 per cent of Americans surveyed for a CNN/USA Today Gallup poll released on Wednesday, compared with 35 per cent who said it was "good" or "great."
The federal government's performance received the same ratings, while the response of state and local officials was viewed negatively by 35 per cent and positively by 37 per cent.
Asked who was to blame for the problems in New Orleans, 13 per cent of the 609 adults surveyed said Mr Bush, 18 per cent said federal agencies, 25 per cent said state or local officials and 38 per cent said no one.