Evacuating New Orleans and recovering the dead, continues to dominate relief effort on the US Gulf coast as withering criticism of the White House's response to the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina increases.
As police and soldiers prepared to resume removing the bodies, the storm claimed its first political casualty yesterday when US President George W Bush stood down Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief Michael Brown as head of ground operations.
His role overseeing Katrina recovery efforts was handed to Vice Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff of the US Coast Guard.
The White House continued its string of up-close looks at the disaster area today with Vice President Dick Cheney scheduled to visit survivors in Texas. Mr Bush is set to travel to the region for a third time tomorrow.
New Orleans officials said rescuing the stranded and the helpless, an effort that began after the August 29th storm breached the city's levees, had ended and efforts were now turned entirely to finding bodies. When that is completed, they will devote their attentions to removing citizens who have been ordered to leave the city.
It appears the number of people defying the evacuation order is smaller than thought. A new provision allowing pets to stay with their evacuated owners is likely to have had an effect. Rescue workers said they had retrieved hundreds of cats and dogs and reunited some with their owners.
More than 300 deaths have been confirmed in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, though much higher totals have been feared. About a million people were displaced by the destruction.
"There's some encouragement in the initial sweeps. ... The numbers so far are relatively minor as compared with the dire predictions of 10,000," said Col Terry Ebbert, director of Homeland Security for New Orleans.
Congress has now approved $62.3 billion for hurricane relief sought by Mr Bush, who warned further requests will come. However, even before yesterday's allcoation of over $50 bn in extra cash, questions has been raised by congressmen about the money was being spent.
And in the US Senate, four top Democrats urged Mr Bush to fire the recalled Mr Brown, amid new questions over his qualifications.
Senator Trent Lott, a Republican who lost his Mississippi home in the storm, said Mr Brown "has been acting like a private, instead of a general."
The House Government Reform Committee is to hold a hearing on the widely criticized response to the disaster would begin on Thursday. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will open a similar hearing on Wednesday.
A Pew Research Center poll found 67 per cent of Americans believed Mr Bush could have done more to speed up relief efforts, and just 28 per cent believed he did all he could.
The problem of hosuing the evacuees is being dealt with in a more efficient manner. Already, thousands of evacuees camped in the Houston Astrodome are expected to get their own apartments in the city and other parts of the country soon.
More than 2,000 of the New Orleans refugees have already been placed in apartment complexes throughout Houston, and another 2,000 will be moving to new accommodation next week, said Guy Rankin, head of the Katrina Housing Task Force.
Another 8,000 apartments are being readied for the 8,000 people still in the temporary Houston shelter, but the Task Force said emptying the stadium by the September 18th target date may not be possible.
Offers of apartments have flowed in from Colorado, Florida, New York and Massachusetts, and Continental Airlines has said it would fly evacuees to their new homes.