The bodies of more than 40 mostly elderly patients have been found in a flooded hospital in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.
The way in which they died is unclear, although a hospital official claimed a few of the patients were dead before the storm, and another said the rising temperature in the hospital afterwards contributed to some of the deaths.
The announcement, which raised Louisiana's official death toll to nearly 280, came as President Bush got his first up-close look at the destruction and the embattled director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned.
Mr Bush rode through New Orleans in an open truck with the governor and mayor, ducking under low-hanging tree limbs and electrical wires.
"My impression of New Orleans is this: That there is a recovery on the way," Mr Bush said.
Nearly two-thirds of southeastern Louisiana's water treatment plants were running, New Orleans International Airport plans to resume limited passenger service today, and 41 of 174 permanent pumps are working, on schedule to help drain the still half-flooded city by October 8th.
Nonetheless, it will be at least three months before New Orleans' public water system is fully operational, said a National Guard engineer working on the systems.