As water ebbs, tallies emerge

Others are ready now. Taylor Lyon and his brother returned from Nashville on Saturday to find their art gallery relatively untouched. "We're open tomorrow," says Mr. Lyon, who isn't even waiting for electricity. "There's a history of art in the French Quarter, and we want to be part of keeping that history going." He, like many in this tourist section, has little doubt about future. "New Orleans is very resilient. It's been through some pretty terrible stuff, but it always comes back."

The French Quarter, though it suffered from looters and wind damage, saw little flooding. People from more devastated neighborhoods can't even begin to think about Halloween or Mardi Gras. The Ninth Ward, now largely drained, is a ghost town of ruined homes - roofs caved in, sides of buildings blown off, water lines visible high up the sides.

St. Bernard Parish, a working-class area just east of New Orleans, also let in some residents this weekend, but only to take stock of their losses. The parish is a surreal landscape of odd sights: parking lots under six inches of dried mud, a boat overturned on a pickup, a railroad-crossing sign in a backyard, junk that includes bleachers and boats, toys and trucks.

Louis Babylon, who's lived in the same house with his wife for 51 years, says they're not coming back. "I won't go through another one," he says, trying to save rusting tools he's had for decades.

Water went past the roof of their neat, white bungalow, and Joan Babylon and her daughter give the tour in disbelief, warning about the huge bumps in the buckled floors. They found the dryer in a bedroom, mud-soaked towels from the bathroom are in the living room.

Still, there are bright spots: The photo albums they left in garbage bags are dry, and Mrs. Babylon found the stack of silver dollars that were a silver anniversary gift. Most important, they had flood insurance.

"You cry first, and then you say, 'What can I do?' " says Ms. Lehman, managing a laugh as she wades through the sludge.

Over at a relief center, Red Cross and FEMA officials are giving out tetanus shots and bottled water. Despite the grim picture, Ernesto Archuleta, an official with a disaster medical assistance team from Tucson, Ariz., sees signs of hope.

"We could barely get in anywhere when we arrived" two weeks ago, he says. "We've come into a disaster area, but we can see and feel that we're in a recovery phase. It's great to be a part of that."

Number of ...

... displaced people: an estimated 1 million

... Katrina-related deaths: 816

... people rescued: at least 48,500

... dollars Congress has allocated for aid/response: 62.3 billion

... households that have received federal funds: 509,000, getting $1.1 billion as of Sept. 15

... children dislodged from school: at least 372,000

... customers in Louisiana and Mississippi without electricity: 307,104 as of Sept. 16, compared with 2.7 million at worst

... gallons being drained from New Orleans per day: 8 billion

... evacuees in Houston's Astrodome: 0 as of Sept. 16, compared with 27,000 at height

... Red Cross shelters still housing evacuees: 250, housing at least 49,000, compared with 902 shelters open since Katrina made landfall (providing a total of 2.2 million overnight stays)

... active-duty US military dedicated to Katrina response: 18,276, with an additional 50,000 reserves and National Guard troops

Percentage of ...

... New Orleans still flooded: 40 to 50, compared with 80 percent at worst

... natural-gas production shut down in Gulf Coast: 33.8, compared with 88 percent on Aug. 30

... oil production shut down in Gulf Coast: 56.1 percent, compared with 95.2 percent on Aug. 30

Sources: Department of Energy, Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, American Forces Information Service, American Red Cross, wire services

• Alexandra Marks contributed to this report.

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