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"I go down to Molly’s in the evenings. I put on make-up and something nice. It cheers people up," said Jill Sanders, a flood survivor.

At least two bars - Molly’s and Johnny White’s - are reported to have served customers in the week since the storm. "That’s our job. That’s just what we do," Molly’s owner, Jim Monaghan, told Reuters.

Pumping begins

The US Army Corps of Engineers will begin pumping water out of New Orleans today after closing the second of two major gaps in the city's flood defences yesterday.

"The primary focus today is to assess the pumps within the city, and to work to get some of those started today," said Greg Breerwood, one of the engineers managing what the army calls the "unwatering" of New Orleans.

Power to the pumps will be gradually turned up to start removing the waters that still stand 10ft deep in St Bernard's Parish, one of the lowest-lying neighbourhoods.

"We are proceeding very gently," said a spokesman. Until now the engineering effort has been dominated by plugging two huge breaches in New Orleans's storm defences with giant bags of sand and concrete.

"Make us a prison"

With the city's jails flooded and closed, the beleaguered authorities of New Orleans have set up a temporary prison in the waiting rooms of the city's train and bus terminals. As of yesterday, 30 inmates were under lock and key in open air cages topped with razor wire.

"They dropped three of us off and said, ’Make us a prison,"’ said Colonel Terry Norris of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, who was given the task of making the city's newest jail on Saturday.

The first inmate arrived soon afterwards, when a man mistook Mr Norris and his two troopers for transport workers: "The first guy we housed drove up in a stolen car and wanted to buy a bus ticket," said Mr Norris. "We gave him a bus ticket, just not to the place he wanted to go."

The prison has a capacity of 700 inmates, which will be tested as police officers from across the city arrive to drop off looters and criminals in recent days. Under the uncertain rules that have governed New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck, any stealing of property valued above $300 is being treated as a felony.

Emergency teams too focused on terrorism

The Bush Administration was told in July that emergency teams across the country were concerned that too much of their time and equipment was focused on dealing with terrorism rather than natural disasters.

A survey of local departments of the Federal Emergency Management Agency found that many staff believed the organisation had lost its independence and flexibility since being added to the Department for Homeland Security in March 2003.

Of the 39 local departments interviewed by the Government Accountability Office, 31 disagreed that the training and grant funds offered by the Department for Homeland Security worked for all types of hazards. Four departments believed there was too much emphasis on terrorism-related activities.

Over the last four years, the Bush Administration has awarded $11.3 billion (£6.1 billion) to state and local governments across America to help them prepare and respond to terrorist attacks.

Lost children website

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has set up a website to trace children missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, or who have been found alone, looking for their parents. The website, at www.missingkids.com, currently lists 334 children who are either lost or searching for their families.

Hollywood arrives

John Travolta and his wife, the actress Kelly Preston, joined the Hurricane Katrina relief operation yesterday in their private jet, delivering five tons of food and hundreds of tetanus shots to victims of the winds and floods.

Travolta, a pilot, landed in Baton Rouge before heading into New Orleans to visit survivors. Once on the ground, he declined to criticise the slow federal response to the disaster, which has attracted the anger of other celebrities, such as Celine Dion and Harry Connick Jr.

Instead the actor went to a command centre set up in the Jefferson Parish of New Orleans and stood for pictures while thanking Church of Scientology volunteers as they administered tetanus injections to rescue workers.

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