US police have begun to forcibly remove residents who are refusing to leave their homes in devastated New Orleans.
A helicopter drops water on a fire in New Orleans.
As many as 10,000 people are estimated to be staying put, despite mayor Ray Nagin's order to forcibly remove remaining residents.
However, more stragglers seemed willing to flee the filthy water and stench of death as increasingly insistent rescuers made what may be their last peaceful pass through swamped New Orleans before using force.
"Some are finally saying, 'I've had enough'," a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said. "They're getting dehydrated. They are running out of food. There are human remains in different houses. The smells mess with your psyche."
Police said they were 80 per cent finished with their scan of the city for voluntary evacuees, after which they planned to begin carrying out mayor Mr Nagin's order.
The job of carrying out the mayor's order was left largely to the 1,000 or so remaining members of New Orleans's beleaguered police force.
The conclusion of the voluntary evacuation came as receding floodwaters revealed more rotting corpses. Nagin has said the death toll in New Orleans alone could reach 10,000, and state officials have ordered 25,000 body bags.
At St Rita's nursing home in the town of Chalmette, authorities struggled to identify as many as 30 residents who may have perished.
A local coroner said staff apparently believed it was more dangerous to move the residents than keep them at the building.