United States police are threatening to force reluctant Hurricane Katrina survivors to leave the ruined city of New Orleans as a political storm continues over the political response to the disaster.
As US army engineers continue to pump flood waters out of New Orleans, the city's mayor has ordered a complete evacuation of the city.
Mayor Ray Nagin said the health risk is too great to allow people to stay.
Meanwhile, health officials have shifted their focus from trauma care to treating infectious diseases.
Medical experts are heading to Louisiana to begin assessing risks posed by the polluted waters. Emergency workers are being vaccinated against tetanus and hepatitis B as a precaution.
The authorities in Louisiana have now begun seeking burial ground for unidentified bodies recovered from the flood-waters.
As search and rescue teams scour New Orleans, state officials have estimated it will take years to restore water services.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post has published a report claiming that offers of aid from foreign countries have been delayed for days while waiting for clearance from the US authorities.
A US Senate Committee is to carry out its own investigation into the response to the crisis caused by the hurricane.
The news was announced only hours after President George W Bush said he would lead a similar inquiry.
A Republican Senator, Susan Collins, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, said the federal government's response had been woefully inadequate.
She said it had raised doubts about the country's ability to cope with a terrorist attack.
The senior Democrat on the committee, Senator Joseph Lieberman, promised a bipartisan, wide-ranging review of the disaster.
Four Irish missing in Gulf Coast region
The Dept of Foreign Affairs has said four Irish citizens are still unaccounted for in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
A spokesman said all four are residents of the Gulf Coast region.
Diplomatic staff are continuing to work with the emergency services in Houston to help Irish citizens caught up in the disaster.
