"Evacuees return to see damage", BBC web site

As he opens the door of his family home in August Avenue, the first thing that hits Vince Lecco is the stench. Food has rotted in the fridge and freezer, and it needs to be buried in the garden. Around the house lie the signs of a hurried exit: a washing basket overturned, dirty crockery in the sink. To his relief, the guns are still in their strongbox.

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Most of the Leccos fled to Houston. Vince, his children aged nine and 10, and his parents all left, but his wife - a nurse - stayed to help at a local hospital. With phone lines down, it has been an agonising time apart.

"I spoke to her today for the first time," says Vince, with tears in his eyes. We have been so worried for her - she has missed the kids unbelievably."

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In the historic French Quarter - which escaped much of the flooding that afflicted areas just a few hundred yards away - Voodoo Bar owner Gilligan is wiping down a fridge stacked with bottles of warm beer.

He offers up a toast to "a new beginning".