Residents Stay Put, Despite Orders

"The water is full of sewage. We know this is not safe. We know there are lots of intestinal illnesses that can be caused by ingestion of the water, and in some cases even just from contact with the water," she said. "For the evacuees who have not left the city, you must do so. This water is not going away anytime soon."

With the city mostly evacuated, emergency vehicles sped down the wrong way on interstate highways. Crews launched rescue boats from highway on-ramps. Helicopters filled the sky, some toting large buckets to douse fires that are breaking out in areas inaccessible to firefighter vehicles.

The Louisiana Superdome, the sports venue that became home to thousands of desperate evacuees in the storm's immediate aftermath, was severely damaged. Doug Thornton, vice president of the firm that manages the building, estimated that repairs would cost at least $100 million. But, he said, it is premature to consider tearing down the 30-year-old facility, which would cost as much as $600 million to replace.

Amid confusion about how officials should enforce the mayor's evacuation order, state officials said rescuers were removing as many as 1,500 people a day. In issuing his decree on Tuesday, Nagin said that law enforcement officers should force people to leave, if necessary. But that order has apparently been overruled by Louisiana officials, who estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 people remained in the city.

"We're not making people leave, but we're strongly encouraging them to," said Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). "We want them to leave because they become another part of the problem. We might have to save them."

Mike Good, a rescuer who arrived here from Colorado a week ago, said that some people initially refused to go but then "decided on the third or fourth pass to get out." Often, he said, they chose to leave after running out of food and water.

Maj. Steve Whiteaker, a rescue worker from Texas, said he and his men are encountering an increasing number of people who refuse to leave their homes. Some say they do not want to be taken to the Superdome or the convention center, for fear of the violence that rippled through those emergency shelters before they were evacuated. Others are just scared to go anywhere.

"See, a lot of people there are destitute and they don't have anything left, and they still don't want to give that up," Whiteaker said. "Sometimes it's just a picture hanging up on the wall, but they don't want to leave it."

One of Whiteaker's men reported pulling his boat up to a woman on her porch and asking her to leave. The woman shooed him away. "Get off of my garden," she said.

Health officials have no official estimate of how many died, although political leaders have speculated that the toll could rise well into the thousands. One state official said FEMA has 25,000 body bags on hand.

"It's an effort just to be prepared," said Bob Johannessen, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Quality.

Fletcher reported from Washington. Staff writers Robert E. Pierre and Ceci Connolly in New Orleans; Jacqueline L. Salmon in Baton Rouge, La.; and David Brown and Juliet Eilperin in Washington contributed to this report.