In pictures: Draining a drowned city
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Engineers have begun pumping water out of New Orleans, eight days after the Louisiana city was submerged by the deadly Hurricane Katrina. -
Experts warn it could take up to 80 days to completely drain the city of flood water - a toxic soup of chemicals and human waste. -
The operation began immediately after emergency workers succeeded in closing a massive hole in a floodwall partially swept away by raging Katrina. -
The round-the-clock project saw trucks dumping piles of rocks in the huge gap. -
While army helicopters were used to drop sandbags - weighing more than 3,000kg (7,000lb) each - to stop the waters. -
The city streets were covered with debris, as experts warned it could take months before the Big Easy could be habitable again.