NEW ORLEANS, Sept 5: Police on Monday urged the people of New Orleans deluged by Hurricane Katrina to leave the city, warning those who refused that they had powers to force their evacuation. “There is absolutely no reason to stay here. There are no jobs. There are no homes to go to. No hotels to go to and there is absolutely nothing here,” New Orleans Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley told a news conference.

“We advised people that this city has been destroyed and it’s completely been destroyed,” he said. “No food or any reason for them to stay. There is no power, trees are down, power lines are down.”

The police warning came as relief workers prepared a massive operation to remove the bodies of victims of Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the US Gulf coast last Monday leaving thousands feared dead and most of New Orleans under water.

The complete evacuation of New Orleans was necessary, officials said, citing the prospect of diseases caused by rotting bodies and polluted waters as well as other risks.

Mr Riley said he was surprised to note that there were ‘still thousands of people’ remaining in the city.

Asked whether people were being ordered to evacuate even if they did not want to and whether police had the authority to make them go, he said: “Yes, we do.”

Mr Riley added that getting people out of New Orleans was the ‘biggest challenge’ for his men, but added that police had not reached a stage of forcing them out.

“Our law enforcement people are not involved in taking people off the street and forcing them out of the city at this point. There may come a time where we get into that mode, but we are not there right now,” he said.

Police also said they were not allowing anyone to return to New Orleans, although people reportedly had been allowed to come back to the relatively intact Jefferson Parish.

Parish President Aaron Broussard had told residents they could check on their homes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday but stressed they would not be able to stay.

But Mr Riley said: “We’re not letting people back in New Orleans.

“I know that has happened in another parish. How that will hinder that parish or their adjacent parishes, I do not know. I do not believe it will affect New Orleans,” he said.

He did not give the number of bodies that had been recovered so far, saying: “It is growing, I can tell you that.” —AFP