exhausted, frustrated and with little option but to take security into
their own hands, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans's riverfront was hit by a series of explosions early today that sent thick black smoke into the sky over the hurricane-ravaged US city.
This is a national disaster - get every bus in the country and get the f*** to New OrleansNew Orleans governor Ray Nagin
At around 4.30am local time, an explosion occurred at a chemical storage facility near the Mississippi River east of the French Quarter, harbour police said.
A series of smaller blasts followed and then acrid, black smoke that could be seen even in the dark followed. The vibrations were felt all the way downtown.
It is the latest problem for the city to deal with as corpses rot along flooded footpaths and the area descends into anarchy. There are reports of widespread looting, gun-toting gangs patrolling streets and other reports of rapes, beatings and carjackings.
Some members of the police were said to be turning in their badges to return to their families.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters last night that National Guard troops were under her orders to "shoot and kill" if needed to restore order.
A fire burns on the east side of New Orleans early this morning. Firefighters say they will let the fire burn itself out.
"These troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will."
Police units, rescue teams and even hospital workers came under gunfire yesterday, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded for urgent help in getting thousands of evacuees to safety. "This is a desperate SOS," he said.
But people have become increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of rescue and evacuation efforts three days after Katrina tore up the US Gulf Coast.
The results of relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina are "not acceptable," President George W. Bush said this afternoon before heading out on a tour of the storm-ravaged area.
The US Senate yesterday approved Mr Bush's request for $10.5 billion in emergency disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
But New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin condemned Mr Bush today, demanding to know why he has failed to co-ordinate a successful relief operation.
Mr Nagin angrily expressed disbelief that the situation continued to deteriorate. "I need reinforcements, I need troops, I need 500 buses," he told local radio station WWL. "This is a national disaster - get every bus in the country and get the f*** to New Orleans.
A young woman suffering from the heat is cradled in the arms of family and friends in New Orleans
"We authorised eight billion dollars to go to Iraq, after 9/11 we gave the President unprecedented powers to take care of New York. You mean to tell me in a place that is so unique . . . a place where there are thousands dying every day, we cannot figure out a way to authorise how to sort this out?" Mr Nagin said.
In thte city, elderly people in wheelchairs braved flooded streets in search of help, and families were trapped on elevated highways without food or water in sweltering heat.
"We want help," people chanted at the city convention centre, where thousands of evacuees were told to seek shelter only to find woefully inadequate supplies of food or water.
Several corpses lay in nearby streets. The body of one elderly woman was simply abandoned in her wheelchair, covered with just a blanket. Officials feared thousands of people were killed, but they could still only guess at the death toll.
Mr Nagin said between 15,000 and 20,000 survivors were still stranded at a convention centre and, with supplies rapidly running out, there were not enough buses to ferry them to shelter in Houston, as earlier promised.
Search crews are still racing to pluck stranded residents from their homes, some clinging to the roof or any spot they could find above the water line. Survivors were still being pulled out, but the corpses were left behind.
Agencies