NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The search for New Orleans' dead continues with emergency workers finding the bodies of people trapped in their beds as flood waters surged.
In several neighborhoods, water rose suddenly to a depth of up to 12 feet when the London Avenue Canal was breached several days after Hurricane Katrina hit the city.
"Parts of the city have become a target-rich environment for human remains," Charles Hood of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "We're just now getting into the areas that experienced the most rapid inundation."
As of Friday night, the official death toll for the city stood at 579. The total for the storm was more than 800 with most of the deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Katrina continues to kill days later. The Centers for Disease Control has reported 22 cases of Vibrio infection, with five deaths, in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Other casualties are likely to include sick evacuees separated from their medication, and elderly nursing home patients confused by being in unfamiliar surroundings.
Katrina's final toll is unlikely to be known for months.
