Thousands return to New Orleans

Returning residents face the task of putting their homes back together

Thousands of people have started to return to New Orleans, after parts of the city least affected by flooding from Hurricane Katrina reopened.

Some businesses are reopening and power supplies working - but only a few parts of the city have drinking water.

The mayor, Ray Nagin, has established a commission to draft a rebuilding plan for the city and has asked for tax breaks to help revive it.

But correspondents say huge areas will not be habitable for months.

The French Quarter is among the areas reopening, with people told they can start returning at their own risk.

Meanwhile the city's police force says it is investigating a dozen officers in connection with looting after Katrina.

See a map of New Orleans' districts

Acting police chief Warren Riley said four officers had already been suspended from duty for failing to stop looting.

Supt Riley, who took over from police chief Eddie Compass after he stood down earlier this week, told a news conference that video footage "does in fact show police officers with some items".

Speaking of the four suspended officers, Mr Riley said: "It was not clear that they in fact looted. What is clear is that some action needed to be taken and it was not."

Health hazards

Under Mayor Nagin's plan, about a third of the city's 500,000 residents may now return to the French Quarter, the Uptown section, which includes the leafy Garden District, and the central business district.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead the city says businesses opening in central New Orleans are catering mainly for emergency staff, contractors and journalists.

People were allowed back into the Algiers district, the area least affected by flooding, on Monday.

US consumers reel at losses

Coast Guard Vice-Admiral Thad Allen, the federal official in charge of the recovery effort, has supported the mayor's latest calls, saying "it is time to let the citizens in".

He had previously urged caution because of the threat of Hurricane Rita which struck the Gulf Coast last weekend and the continuing risk of flooding to low-lying areas.

The Lower Ninth Ward, which was flooded again when heavy rains sparked by Hurricane Rita sent water pouring over a patched-up levee, remains out of bounds.

People who are returning home are being handed fliers saying they are returning "at your own risk".

The vice-admiral said residents "need to be advised, first of all that schools will not be operating and that there are certain threats to public health they have to keep in mind".

Stephen Johnson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, warned serious health hazards remained because of bacteria-laden floodwater and the lack of sewerage and drinkable water.

The US government calculates Hurricane Katrina has caused $100bn (£56.5bn) of uninsured losses to property along the Gulf Coast.

The BBC's North America business correspondent Guto Harri says it is almost invariably the poorest people who do not have property insurance.

This suggests the $100bn damage to uninsured property will have hit them hardest, meaning they have not only lost their homes but also have no means of rebuilding or buying elsewhere, our correspondent says.

Click here to return