Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel via AP Gail Duplantis breaks into tears as she sees her Hurricane Katrina-flooded home for the first time yesterday in Jefferson Parrish, La. Click photo for larger image

WASHINGTON -- Floodwaters in New Orleans contain levels of sewage-related bacteria that are at least 10 times higher than acceptable safety limits, endangering rescue workers and remaining residents who even walk in it, federal officials said yesterday.

David J. Phillip, pool photo via AP Search and rescue workers go house to house yesterday to evacuate survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Click photo for larger image.

Results of the first round of testing by the Environmental Protection Agency were no surprise, but reinforced warnings that everyone still in the city take precautions to avoid getting the water on their skin -- especially into cuts or other open wounds -- much less in their mouths.

"Human contact with the floodwater should be avoided as much as possible," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.

Health hazards from that water make it imperative that remaining residents comply with evacuation orders, added Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"If you haven't left the city yet, you must do so," she said.

In New Orleans, police and soldiers using the unmistakable threat of force went house to house to try to coax the last 10,000 or so stubborn holdouts to leave storm-shattered New Orleans, spurred by the risk of disease.

"A large group of young armed men armed with M-16s just arrived at my door and told me that I have to leave," said Patrick McCarty, who owns several buildings and lives in one of them in the city's Lower Garden District. "While not saying they would arrest you, the inference is clear."

A frail-looking 86-year-old Anthony Charbonnet grumbled as he locked his front door and walked slowly backward down the steps of the house where he had lived since 1955.

Eric Gay, Associated Press Chin Chun Nin argues with police officials who were trying to convince him to leave his New Orleans home yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

"I haven't left my house in my life," he said as soldiers took him to a helicopter. "I don't want to leave."

Mayor C. Ray Nagin ordered law officers and the military late Tuesday to evacuate all holdouts -- by force if necessary. He warned that the combination of fetid water, fires and natural gas leaks after Hurricane Katrina made it too dangerous to stay.

There were no reports of anyone being removed by force. And it was not clear how the order would be carried out.

In the low-lying Ninth Ward, Patricia Kelly was driven out of her home by flooding and took up residence under a tattered, dirty green-and-white-striped patio umbrella in front of an abandoned barber shop. Despite warnings, she continues to refuse to leave.

"We're surviving every day, trying to tolerate the situation by the grace of God. He's keeping us holding on just one day at a time," she said. "I'm going to stay as long as the Lord says so. If they come with a court order, then we'll leave."

In the high and dry French Quarter, 48-year-old Jack Jones said he would resist if authorities tried to force him out of the home where he has lived since the 1970s.

While the streets were strewn with garbage, rotting food and downed power lines, Jones kept his block pristine, sweeping daily, spraying for mosquitoes and even pouring bleach down drains to kill germs.

Jones said the sick, the elderly and people who lack supplies should be evacuated -- but not folks like him. He has 15 cases of drinking water, a generator, canned ravioli, wine, coffee and three cartons of Marlboros.

"I've got everything I need," he said. "I just want to be left alone."

Sgt. Joseph Boarman of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, whose soldiers helped coax people from their homes, said he could almost understand the reluctance to leave: "It's their home. You know how hard it is to leave home, no matter what condition it's in."

Water tests have just begun

The EPA water tests for more than 100 chemicals and other pollutants so far turned up elevated levels only of E. coli and other coliform bacteria -- markers for sewage contamination -- and lead. Authorities were unsure of the source of the heavy metal.

Michael Mulvey, The Dallas Morning News via AP Hospice nurse Shirley Hulgan drives through Biloxi, Miss., as Cindy Ward checks on the status of a patient yesterday. Hulgan and other nurses are trying to track down the hospice patients they were caring for before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area. This trip was scrubbed after Ward learned the patient they were seeking died two days after the storm. Click photo for larger image.

Lead attacks the brain. It poses a risk if people, particularly children, were to drink the water, something residents have been told to avoid since Hurricane Katrina struck.

But, "we don't know what else is contained in that water," Johnson warned.

The first testing was done on water from residential neighborhoods, not industrial sites where other toxic contaminants may lurk. Moreover, oil is in the water, and it's likely that chemicals such as asbestos will be in debris from older buildings, he said.

Federal health officials stressed that rescue workers should wear protective clothing and gloves before entering flooded areas, and be careful not to splash the dirty water into their faces. Find clean water and soap to wash exposed skin as soon as possible.

"Always, always, always wash hands before eating," Gerberding stressed.

Symptoms of E. coli ingestion are vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and fever; anyone with those symptoms, or who has open wounds exposed to tainted water, should seek medical attention.

Louisiana's state epidemiologist, Raoult Ratard, agreed that it's not a good idea to wade in the water for hours or drink it, but expressed concern that exaggerating the danger could scare rescue workers.

"The water is not safe, but the water is also not extremely dangerous," he said. "The best decontamination is a shower with soap and water."

Smiley N. Pool, The Dallas Morning News via AP Capt. Chris Loftin, left, and Spc. Jason Strickland, of the 39th Brigade Combat Team of the Arkansas National Guard, search the exterior of a home while on overnight patrol yesterday in Metairie, La. The soldiers stopped and searched homes if anything suspicious was seen, such as an open front door, or a car with lights left on, in an effort prevent looting in the area. Click photo for larger image.

Yesterday's initial focus was on standing floodwater, but more than 1,000 drinking water systems in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama were affected by the hurricane. EPA testing is going on in the other states, too, and how quickly drinking water can be restored in part depends on the degree of contamination in water supplies those systems treat.

Each water-treatment plant will have to adjust levels of chlorine, filtration and other treatments to eliminate pathogens, such as E. coli bacteria or the parasite cryptosporidium, says water quality expert Charles O'Melia of Johns Hopkins University.

If chemicals are in water supplies as well, it's possible activated carbon could soak them up, he said; routine treatment would remove the carbon.

Many hurricane-stricken areas have issued boil-water alerts, and boiling will kill bacteria and parasites, O'Melia said. The CDC recommends a rolling boil for one minute; some health experts recommend the additional step of running the water through coffee filters.

For people who can't boil water, adding chlorine from unscented household bleach will kill bacteria, but not cryptosporidium, a diarrhea-causing parasite dangerous to people with weak immune systems, O'Melia cautioned. The CDC recommends one-eighth teaspoon of bleach per gallon of clear water, one-fourth teaspoon if the water is cloudy; let it stand for 30 minutes before drinking.

Also yesterday, federal health officials said evacuees still in shelters later this fall will be among the first people vaccinated against the flu because of the risk that highly contagious influenza could sweep through the crowded facilities. Manufacturer Sanofi-Pasteur is making 200,000 of the first flu shots available to those evacuees, Gerberding said.

Thomas Patterson, Salem (Oregon) Statesman Journal via AP As flood waters recede, Oregon National Guard Capt. Trent Klug takes down and folds a hurricane-tattered flag yesterday at the Port of New Orleans. "I just don't like to see my flag in this condition," Klug said. Click photo for larger image.

In New Orleans, the floodwaters continued to recede, though slowly, with only 23 of the city's normal contingent of 148 pumps in operation, along with three portable pumps. The water in St. Bernard Parish had fallen 5 feet.

John Hall, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said it was not clear how long it would be before all the pumps were running.

"There's a long way to go. We need to get a lot more capacity on line to make a real difference," he said.

The enormity of the disaster came ever-clearer in neighboring St. Bernard Parish, which was hit by a levee break that brought a wall of water up to 20 feet high. State Rep. Nita Hutter said 30 people died at a flooded nursing home in Chalmette when the staff left the elderly residents behind in their beds. And Rep. Charlie Melancon said more than 100 people died at a dockside warehouse while they waited for rescuers to ferry them to safety.

Given the extent of the misery, Louisiana's two U.S. senators -- Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican David Vitter -- wrote a letter to Senate leaders Wednesday urging them to put aside partisan bickering in assigning blame over the federal response and focus on providing for victims.

"Please do not make the citizens of Louisiana a victim once again by allowing our immediate needs to be delayed by partisanship," they wrote.

U.S. to issue $2,000 debit cards to Katrina victims

The federal government plans to hand out debit cards worth $2,000 each to families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff, under fire for his agency's response to the disaster, held a conference call with governors of states with evacuees yesterday to describe the plan. While many details remained to be worked out, the plan was to quickly begin distributing the cards, starting with people in major evacuation centers such as the Houston Astrodome.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the cards are aimed at providing "some immediate cash assistance to those who are in shelters, those that were evacuated."

Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who participated in the conference call, said the cards will be offered "to people in shelters as well as people who are not in shelters but who have evacuated the area and need help." He said the hope is the cards will encourage people to leave shelters voluntarily.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is administering the program. FEMA officials said the program is aimed at those most in need, so not all families that fled their homes will be eligible.

"For instance you may have some people who have insurance and insurance is meeting their living expenses while they have been displaced," said Ed Conley, a FEMA spokesman in Houston. "You have some people who may be looking at an option such as a cruise ship where all of their needs are going to be met. It is going to vary by family."

The cards are to be used to help victims purchase food, transportation and other essentials.

It's unclear how much the debit card program will cost the government, but it could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars since hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, said he had concerns about the potential for abuse.

"That's a lot of money. The question is how do you separate the needy from those who just want a $2,000 handout," he said.

The cards will be issued on a one-per-household basis, said Natalie Rule, a FEMA spokeswoman in Washington. As a safeguard against fraud, FEMA will use aerial photographs of devastated areas to verify that the refugees were, indeed, forced from their homes in cases where they cannot provide documents to prove their losses or identities.

"We've got a huge population of people that have been evacuated with very little by way of possessions and we have to have a way to make sure these people can function," Rule said. "If there are those who are out there to cheat the system, that is going to be very disappointing. But the main goal is to get the aid out."

Rule said the agency was setting up registration centers in shelters in Houston and Dallas where evacuees could obtain the cards.

FEMA is working to set up similar registration centers in other shelters across the country, Rule said, and evacuees can also get the debit cards by calling 1-800-621-FEMA or going to the agency's web site at www.fema.gov.

Anonymous donor thanks America for rescue

An anonymous donor turned up at a U.S. diplomatic office and presented an envelope with 1,000 euros, about $1,200, for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

It was a way of repaying a debt to the United States for being liberated by American soldiers from a concentration camp and treated more than 60 years ago, Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said yesterday.

The donor was 90 years old, but that is all McCormack would say by way of identification, although it was learned later the donor was a woman. "This is a person who is not seeking any publicity for this act -- which in the time we live makes it even more extraordinary," he said.

"This is a selfless act by somebody who is repaying what they felt was a deeply felt debt of gratitude to the United States," the spokesman said.

This is one of many stories from around the world of individuals being very generous with the American people at a time of need, McCormack said.

"It's extraordinary," he said.