President Hu Jintao on Wednesday sent a message of sympathy to US President George W. Bush after Hurricane Katrina swept through several states of the country and caused heavy casualties and property damage there.

In his message, Hu expressed deep sympathies for Bush, the US government and the American people over the hurricane disaster. Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are the worst hit states.

Hu expressed the belief that the American people will overcome the aftermath of the disaster and rebuild their homeland.

Thousands feared dead in hurricane-ravaged US city

Thousands of people were feared dead in New Orleans, Louisiana, under the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, the southern US city's mayor said yesterday.

Citing that there are many dead bodies floating in the deep waters, Mayor Ray Nagin estimated the death toll might be at least hundreds, but most likely, thousands.

The city will be totally evacuated as there is continuous flooding caused by the hurricane, he said.

The famous southern metropolitan, where over 480,000 lived before the hurricane, will not be back to normal in several months, said Nagin.

He estimated there are still 50,000 to 100,000 people remaining in New Orleans as the majority of the residents have been evacuated before the hurricane came.

The evacuation will be conducted with the assistance of the US military, at the pace of 14,000 to 15,000 people each day, said Nagin.

New Orleans was spared from the direct hit of Hurricane Katrina, which plowed into US Gulf Coast Monday, but most areas of the below-sea-level city was submerged by waters flowing down from nearby lakes through damaged levees.

As local authorities work on the evacuation plan, US military engineers are struggling to plug the city's breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers.

(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2005)