Eric Gay, Associated Press Bryan Vernon and Dorothy Bell are rescued from the roof of their house yesterday in New Orleans. Click photo for larger image.

By The Associated Press
As dawn broke on the day after Hurricane Katrina's landfall, emergency officials in the Gulf Coast states faced the sobering reality of the storm's devastation. With confirmed deaths now past 50, Mississippi's governor warned that the toll in one county alone could rise to 80.

Douglas R. Clifford, St. Petersburg Times via AP Daniel LaCour, of the Eighth Ward of New Orleans, waits to be rescued yesterday after a tidal surge overwhelmed a levy, flooding a majority of the homes in the area. He said he and his brother, Glen LaCour, stayed behind because there was not enough room in their family car. Click photo for larger image. More hurricane coverage Hurricane Katrina photo journal Katrina spares New Orleans, still packing a punch far inland Hurricane information, charitable organizations online New Orleans braced, hoped How to help hurricane victims: Stay home, send cash Early estimates put hurricane damage at $10 billion plus You'll feel Katrina's pain at the pump Storm hampers long-distance, cell services

The death toll soared with the grim discovery of numerous bodies in the remains of a Biloxi, Mississippi, apartment complex. Authorities said the count of lives lost is certain to rise as rescue workers reach victims in other flood-ravaged neighborhoods.

Even with Katrina swirling away to the north as a tropical storm, two different levee breaches in New Orleans sent a churning sea of water coursing through city streets.

"The hurricane was scary," Scott Radish told The Times-Picayune. "All the tree branches fell, but the building stood. I thought I was doing good. Then I noticed my Jeep was under water."

Across the Gulf Coast, boats rescued people clinging to rooftops, hundreds of trees were uprooted and sailboats were flung about like toys after Katrina crashed ashore yesterday in what could become the most expensive storm in U.S. history.

The federal government began rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with doctors, nurses and first-aid supplies.

The U.S. Defense Department sent experts to help with search-and-rescue operations.

Tree trunks, downed power lines and trees, and chunks of broken concrete in the streets hampered rescue efforts. Swirling water in many areas contained hidden dangers. Crews worked to clear highways. Along one Mississippi highway, motorists themselves used chainsaws to remove trees blocking the road.

Officials today said it could be a week or more before many of the evacuees are allowed back. They warned people against trying to return to their homes while the rescue and recovery are still going on.

"I don't want anyone not in the city to come back. What we're doing is trying to make the best of a bad situation and we need people to cooperate," New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass said.

More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen were activated to help with the recovery, and the Alabama Guard planned to send two battalions to Mississippi.

"We know that last night we had over 300 folks that we could confirm were on tops of roofs and waiting for our assistance. We pushed hard all throughout the night. We hoisted over 100 folks last night just in the Mississippi area. Our crews over New Orleans probably did twice that," Capt. Dave Callahan of the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mississippi said on ABC.

The death toll jumped late last night when Harrison County emergency operations center spokesman Jim Pollard said an estimated 50 people had died in the county, with some 30 dead at a beach-side apartment complex in Biloxi.

This morning, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told viewers of NBC's "Today" show that there were unconfirmed reports of up to 80 fatalities in Harrison County, which includes Gulfport and Biloxi, and the number was likely to rise.

"The devastation down there is just enormous," Barbour said.

"We know that there is a lot of the coast that we have not been able to get to," the governor said. "I hate to say it, but it looks like it is a very bad disaster in terms of human life."

"This is our tsunami," Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway told the Biloxi Sun Herald.

Three more people were killed by falling trees in Mississippi and two killed in a traffic accident in Alabama. And an untold number of other people were feared dead in flooded neighborhoods, many of which could not be reached by rescuers because of high water.

"We pray that the loss of life is very limited, but we fear that is not the case," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.

New Orleans, relieved to have missed the brunt of the killer hurricane, found itself dealing with a second, creeping disaster on the day after the storm.

A breach in the eastern part of the city was causing flooding and "significant evacuations" in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes, said Col. Rich Wagenaar of the Army Corps of Engineers. He did not know how many people were affected by the flooding.

A large section of New Orleans' vital 17th Street Canal levee reportedly gave way yesterday afternoon, sending a churning sea of water coursing across the western part of the city.

Residents who had ridden out the brunt of Katrina now faced a second more insidious threat as flood waters continued their ascent well into the night.

Rising water forced one New Orleans hospital to move patients to the Louisiana Superdome, where some 10,000 people had already taken shelter, authorities said.

Downtown streets that were relatively clear in the hours after the storm yesterday were filled with 1 to 1 1/₂ feet of water this morning. Water was knee-deep around the Superdome. Canal Street was literally a canal. Water lapped at the edge of the French Quarter.

Little islands of red ants floated in the gasoline-fouled waters through downtown. The Hyatt Hotel and other high-rise around the Superdome had rows and rows of shattered windows.

In Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., President Bush pledged extensive federal help for victims of Hurricane Katrina to "get your lives back in order."

The federal government has put into effect a massive emergency assistance program that included rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas.

Bush also was expected to tap into the nation's emergency petroleum stockpiles to help refineries affected by the storm, administration officials said. Final details were being worked out, they said.

The government's supply -- nearly 700 million barrels of oil stored in underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast -- was established to cushion oil markets during energy disruptions.

Katrina knocked out power to more than three-quarters of a million people from Louisiana to the Florida's Panhandle, and authorities said it could be two months before electricity is restored to everyone. Ten major hospitals in New Orleans were running on emergency backup power.

Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm late yesterday as it passed through eastern Mississippi, moving north at 21 mph. Winds were still a dangerous 65 mph.

Forecasters said that as the storm moves north through the nation's midsection over the next few days, it may spawn tornadoes over the Southeast and swamp the Gulf Coast and the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys with a potentially ruinous 8 inches or more of rain.

	William Colgin, Mississippi Press-Register via AP Residents of Pascagoula, Miss., emerge from their homes to find streets littered with debris in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. According to CNN, winds in Pascagoula were clocked at 118 mph. Click photo for larger image.

As the storm surged ashore just east of New Orleans on Monday, Bush was traveling in the West -- here and in El Mirage, Ariz. -- to pitch a new Medicare prescription drug benefit. The hurricane, however, took top billing at both stops.

By the time Bush spoke in California, his focus had changed from urging people to stay out of harm's way to talking in the past tense of "a storm that hit with a lot of ferocity."

"It's a storm now that is moving through and now is the time for governments to help people get their feet on the ground," Bush said. "For those of you who are concerned about whether or not we are prepared to help -- don't be. We are."

He added, "We're in place, we've got equipment in place, supplies in place and once we're able to assess the damage we'll be able to move in and help those good folks in the affected areas."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had medical teams, rescue squads and groups prepared to supply food and water poised in a semicircle around New Orleans.

"I was impressed with the evacuation. Once it was ordered it was very smooth," FEMA Director Michael Brown said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. With the storm moving north, Brown said he expected to see flooding in Tennessee and the Ohio Valley.

In other storm-related developments:

The president made emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The difference between these declarations and preliminary ones issued over the weekend was that the new declarations allow for the drawdown of federal funds in disaster relief and recovery.

The American Red Cross said it had thousands of volunteers mobilized for the hurricane. It was the "largest single mobilization that we've done for any single natural disaster," said spokesman Bradley Hague. The organization set up operational headquarters in Baton Rouge.

The Environmental Protection Agency dispatched emergency crews to Louisiana and Texas because of concern about oil and chemical spills.

The Coast Guard closed ports and waterways along the Gulf Coast and positioned craft around the area to be ready to conduct post-hurricane search and rescue operations.

The Agriculture Department said its Food and Nutrition Service will provide meals and other commodities, such as infant formula, distilled water for babies and emergency food stamps.

The Federal Aviation Administration said airports were closed in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La.; Biloxi, Miss.; Mobile, Ala.; Pensacola, Fla., and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Airlines have moved their equipment away from the stricken areas and canceled all flights, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Many air traffic control facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were closed.

The Defense Department dispatched emergency coordinators to Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to provide a wide range of assistance including communications equipment, search and rescue operations, medical teams and other emergency supplies.

The Health and Human Services Department sent 38 doctors and nurses to Jackson, Miss., to be used where needed, and 30 pallets of medical supplies to the region, including first aid materials, sterile gloves and oxygen tanks.

Meanwhile, Brown gave Bush two briefings on the powerful storm, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

"The federal government and the state governments and the local governments will work side-by-side to do all we can to help get your lives back in order," Bush said.

William Colgin, Mississippi Press-Register via AP Jane Prochillo reacts as she comes upon the damaged home of a friend yesterday on Washington Avenue in Pascagoula, Miss. Click photo for larger image.

The president was expected to authorize at least a loan of some oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, said administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

McClellan said the president was waiting to hear the Energy Department's recommendation before making a decision. "Obviously, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is there for emergency situations, and that would include natural disasters," the spokesman told reporters.

McClellan later said Bush had spoken with the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama "to make sure they were getting what they needed from the federal government."

In a statement, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said, "Beginning last week, we have been in close contact with our federal partners, site managers at various locations of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and companies that operate oil refineries to prepare for any disruption in oil production."

"Over the next few days, we will continue to gain more information on the specific needs and then be able to make a better determination on how we can help," Bodman said.

The Gulf of Mexico is the heart of U.S. oil and natural gas operations, and the storm so far has caused the shutdown of about 8 percent of U.S. refining capacity -- or about 1 million barrels, further driving up gasoline costs.

It was not known how long oil and natural-gas production in the Gulf would be shut down.

If Bush decides to tap the reserves, as he did in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan struck the Gulf of Mexico, it would not be designed to put downward pressure on gas prices but to give refineries in the area a temporary supply of crude oil to replace interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm.

Some 6,000 National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi who would otherwise be available to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are in Iraq.

Even so, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the states have adequate National Guard units to handle the hurricane needs, with at least 60 percent of the guard available in each state. He said about 6,500 National Guard troops were available in Louisiana, about 7,000 in Mississippi, nearly 10,000 in Alabama and about 8,200 in Florida.

The First U.S. Army, based at Fort Gillem near Atlanta, has 1,600 National Guard troops who were already there training to go to Iraq, and they will be available to assist the states or evacuate Camp Shelby in Mississippi, if necessary.

According to the Navy, two ships were moved from Pascagoula, Miss., and taken out to sea where they could ride out the storm. Most of the Navy's ships were on the east coast of Florida and were not affected. The Navy also moved dozens of aircraft out of Pensacola, Fla., and sent them to bases in Oklahoma and Texas. Aircraft that were not able to fly were put in hangars.

	William Colgin, Mississippi Press-Register via AP Ten-year-old Sam Miller is consoled by a neighbor after viewing the destruction of his home along Beach Boulevard in Pascagoula, Miss. Click photo for larger image.