New Orleans began the grim task of house-to-house searches for the dead on Friday with hope the number found might not be as catastrophic as predictedand amid reports President George W. Bush chose political cronies rather than disaster experts lead the relief efforts, reported Reuters. "There's some encouragement in the initial sweeps. ... The numbers (of dead) so far are relatively minor as compared with the dire predictions of 10,000," Col. Terry Ebbert, director of Homeland Security for the city of New Orleans said at a news conference with other city officials. Flood waters were receding and city officials said the New Orleans was now "fully secured," with 14,000 troops on patrol to prevent looting. Some neighboring areas were showing signs of recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said that contrary to earlier reports nobody was being forcibly removed from the city. Thousands of people were still believed to be holding out, some in neighborhoods still awash in a fetid soup of debris, bacteria, decomposed bodies, chemicals and oil, with no electricity and no running water. --More 2107 Local Time 1807 GMT
