Waking up in New Orleans brings a sense of relief, that another almost-sleepless night is over, that the curfew has passed and, for many people, that they have survived another day. Denis Staunton, in New Orleans, reports
Pushing open the louvred shutters and stepping out on to a wrought-iron balcony in the French Quarter, you could almost forget what has happened here - until you look down on the street below.
The city has become a giant tip with rubbish lying everywhere to be picked over by stray dogs, many still wearing the collars their evacuated owners gave them.
A yellow scum covers the stinking water that still floods many districts and the authorities say the city is now a breeding ground for disease. Deputy police chief Ward Riley yesterday told those still in the city to get out now. "There is absolutely no reason to stay. No food. No jobs. The city has been completely destroyed," he said.
For thousands of people still stranded in St Bernard's parish the option of leaving is not available. Rescue workers have been unable to reach them because the bridge leading to the parish has been razed and nobody has lowered it yet.
Across the river in Bywater, Marylin Jones looks across at the parish that was her home until last week. "I'm not trying to get to my house. I'm trying to get to my people, my neighbours. They're dying over there," she said.
Graffiti scrawled on nearby shops expresses the anger that many here feel towards Washington DC. "F**k you, Bush. You left us here." And, "we'll vote for someone else next time".
Now that the National Guard has arrived in force soldiers are everywhere - patrolling the streets as if in a war zone, guarding buildings and distributing water at crossroads. Armoured personnel carriers and police vehicles are almost the only traffic on the streets but criminal gangs are still at work breaking into houses and shops.
The noise of helicopter rotors is constant, roaring overhead through the night with brilliant searchlights trained on the streets. For most of the National Guard soldiers this has been their most distressing operation to date. "I've served in the Third World but I never thought I'd see anything like this in America. I'm ashamed," said one young soldier from New Mexico.
The Superdome is empty now except for a sea of plastic bottles, dirty sheets and blankets, abandoned shoes and clothes. The building has been closed as a biohazard but it won't be needed as local baseball team, the Saints, are moving to San Antonio.
Life for those who have chosen to stay is New Orleans is a struggle for food, water and peace of mind. Most get by on a sandwich or a can of food each day, drinking as little water as possible. With no water or electricity, nobody has washed for a week.
Some stayed in the city because they had nowhere else to go, others because it was the only place they could ever feel at home. Stan Murray, a red-faced Vietnam veteran fears that he could never feel part of a community out of New Orleans.
"I'm not saying we're peculiar but a lot of people here know that there are different ways of looking at things. There are a lot of Vietnam vets, a lot of gays, different kinds of people and we help each other out because we have to. That's family," he said.