collar neighborhoods, where people had no means to evacuate ahead of the Aug. 29 storm. "The search for living individuals across the city has been conducted. ... What we are starting today ... is a recovery operation, a recovery operation to search by street, by grid, for the remains of any individuals who have passed away," Ebbert said. So far the official toll in Louisiana is 118 confirmed dead, and more than 300, including Mississippi and Alabama. Around New Orleans, evacuees were returning to St. Charles Parish, a suburban area west of the city. Electricity was coming back online in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes to the north. "As you can tell now, there are some areas of the city that are dry. The health risk might not be what we originally thought," Landrieu told CNN. At St. Bernard Parish along the Gulf Coast, a Reuters reporter saw streets coated in a thick layer of oil and sludge from a refinery spill. Wild dogs were running around coated in oil, scavenging for garbage. A hazardous materials crew was on hand, trying to deal with the situation. --More 2109 Local Time 1809 GMT
