* The White House is preparing a new emergency budget request likely to total US$40 billion to US$50 billion for the recovery, in addition to US$10.5 billion approved by Congress last week.The Federal Emergency Management Agency handed out US$2000 ($2875) debit cards to Katrina survivors. At the Houston Astrodome where
16,000 evacuees are being housed, long lines formed to collect the cards.
* Thousands in New Orleans clung to their ravaged lives, some refusing to leave despite threats of forced evacuation and fears of disease. About 10,000 residents failed or could not respond to a mandatory evacuation order.Minimum force - but enough to do the job - will be used to flush out those remaining, said police chief Eddie Compass.Rescue teams tied bodies to trees or fences and noted the location for later recovery.
* Federal health officials reported three people in the region had died from bacterial infections and tests confirmed the flood water in New Orleans was a voodoo brew of sewage-borne bacteria.
* St Bernard Parish President Henry Rodriguez said that about 30 residents had drowned in a flooded nursing home immediately east of New Orleans.
* Water was being drained from St Bernard Parish, where engineers intentionally breached levees earlier this week to help drain the region. Water levels in the parish, where three pumps were working, had dropped about 1.5m.Almost 60 major fires have hit New Orleans since Katrina struck.
- REUTERS
