New Orleans' Superdome has seen its last busloads of hurricane survivors depart for temporary shelter elsewhere.

But the bodies of the dead were still in the dark stadium on Saturday, lying on or beside piles of garbage up to 1.5 metres high.

Some of those who survived the Superdome, one of 10 emergency shelters for those who didn't or couldn't evacuate when Hurricane Katrina hit, sounded shattered.

"A man was looking for his baby the other night," said evacuee Carolyn Richards. "She was 10 years old and she was raped and killed, and he found her. We're dead ourselves, we're not living."

Linda Hutcheson is still alive after five days without her cancer medication. Her young son witnessed three murders, and her mother is gravely ill.

She is convinced the politicians don't care.

"We're sick, we're elderly, very poor people. We're expendable, therefore leave us here to die."

Despite the horrors of the past week, and the understandable bitterness of those who survived them, the situation is turning around.

With the influx of U.S. army troops and national guardsmen, small pockets of New Orleans are now entirely calm.

"Twenty-four hours can make a world of difference," said Lt-Col. John Edwards of the U.S. Army.

A bar has even re-opened on raunchy Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, a strip normally famous for non-stop partying but now almost deserted.

"A lot of people got headaches behind this storm and they need something to calm their nerves," said bar owner Terry Cutris.

Earlier Saturday, more fires sent smoke billowing into the sky above New Orleans.

A fire broke out in the Saks Fifth Avenue Department Store on Canal Street, between the business district and the famous French Quarter.

Thick smoke billowed from rows of warehouses on the east bank of the Mississippi River, where corrugated roofs buckled and tiny explosions erupted. It is believed to have started in a lumber yard.

Many fires have been left to burn because hydrants aren't working and overwhelmed firefighters have been unable to get to them.

Relief effort

Hundreds of desperately ill hospital patients are still being taken by helicopter to the city's airport. Lounges there are functioning as triage centres. Patients are assessed while they wait for flights to medical facilities elsewhere in the United States.

Many of the patients looked to be in dire need of hospitalization.

"We saw people today on the floor and appearing to be on the verge of death," reported CTV's John Vennavally-Rao.

"Heart attacks, a couple people shot, not very many. Dehydration is a big one: People sitting on the roofs for days without any water," said Dr. Scott Delacroix, one of the triage doctors.

One Saturday, the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) said another 17,000 hospital patients are still awaiting evacuation, but Vennavally-Rao said he's heard unofficially that the process should be complete by Monday morning.

Many of the healthy are desperate to get out of the city before they fall ill from the effects of the raw sewage on the streets and lack of food, water and medicine.

Hundreds of people still appear to be waiting for rescue from rooftops and balconies, where they have been stranded since floodwater poured into the city earlier this week.

Thousands of New Orleans residents are already in Texas, where convention centres and sporting arenas are opening to help out.

Texas Governor Rick Perry said as many as 200,000 evacuees could end up in his state. The influx of evacuees "is going to be a strain on Houston," said Judge Robert Eckels, who is overseeing operations at the Houston Astrodome.

"But this is a big city and people have big hearts," he told CNN, adding that the city "will find a way" to cope.

U.S. President George Bush said Saturday that he had ordered the deployment of 7,000 active duty troops to the area. They will join 4,000 others already on the ground.

In other news:

• Bush plans to return to the disaster-hit region on Monday.
• The Pentagon said it would send an additional 10,000 National Guard troops to Louisiana and Mississippi in the coming days.
• Three luxury cruise liners will serve as temporary housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina for the next six months. Two will be based in Galveston, Texas, and the other will be docked in Mobile, Alabama
• The military will send home from Iraq and Afghanistan more than 300 Air Force airmen who are based at an installation in Mississippi so they can assist their families who were affected by the hurricane.
• A visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House has been postponed because of the hurricane.

With reports from CTV's Jed Kahane and John Vennavally-Rao