The US government has said it is now in control of the situation in New Orleans after the largest emergency airlift in the country's history.
Tens of thousands of people trapped in the city for six days after Hurricane Katrina struck have now been evacuated.
In an eight-hour operation, rescuers cleared the Superdome football stadium and the city's convention centre of thousands of people who had been sheltering there.
They were taken by bus and helicopter to the airport, where military cargo planes carried them to refugee centres in other states.
Officials say the number of people killed in the city could be in the thousands.
The European Union and NATO have received official requests from the US for emergency assistance for regions hit by the hurricane.
There have been requests for first aid kits, blankets, water trucks and 500,000 prepared meals.
Many individual members of the EU had already made specific offers of assistance and some had specialist emergency response teams on stand-by and ready for immediate deployment.
Meanwhile, thousands of extra troops have arrived in New Orleans to help the relief effort and bring order to the city. Soldiers have taken control of the streets after the lawlessness of recent days.
The floodwaters which overran parts of the city are beginning to subside but authorities say it will be months before the city returns to normal.
1.5 million people evacuated from Gulf Coast region
The state of Texas says it has almost reached its capacity to take refugees. An estimated 250,000 people are in temporary shelters and the astrodome in Houston is housing a large number of those refugees.
George Bush has visited the Red Cross co-ordination centre in Texas and called on anybody who could help in the aftermath of the disaster to make contact with the centre.
A total of 1.5 million people have now been evacuated from the Gulf Cost region.
Concerns over Irish in affected areas
Five Irish people who were caught up in the hurricane disaster returned to Dublin airport this morning.
The Department of Foreign Affairs says it is now trying to contact about ten Irish people believed to be in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina.
A number were taken off the missing list yesterday after they got in touch with relatives, but others have been added after inquiries from concerned families.
