NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Homicide charges were filed against the husband-and-wife owners of a nursing home where 34 elderly patients are believed to have drowned in Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters, the first major criminal case related to the storm's still rising death toll.
For Louisiana alone, the toll surged by more than half Tuesday to 423, and officials fear the numbers could climb as floodwaters recede and more of the city becomes accessible to search teams. Including deaths in four other states, Katrina's overall death count stood at 659.
''It's the water. Everything is driven by the water,'' said Lt. Col. Mike Thompson of the Oklahoma National Guard.
Authorities said the toll would be lower if Salvador and Mable Mangano, owners of the St. Rita's nursing home in town of Chalmette, had heeded warnings to evacuate their patients as Katrina came ashore Aug. 29.
''The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not,'' said Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti. ''They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people.''
The Manganos were released on $50,000 bond each; each of the 34 counts against them carries up to five years in prison. Their attorney, Jim Cobb, said his clients were innocent and had waited for a mandatory evacuation order from the officials of St. Bernard Parish that never came.
Cobb said the Manganos were forced to make a difficult decision as Katrina approached: risk the health of the patients, many of them frail and on feeding tubes, in an evacuation, or keep them comfortable at the home through the storm.
Tom Rodrigue, whose mother died in the home, was not satisfied. ''She deserved the chance, you know, to be rescued instead of having to drown like a rat,'' he said.
The attorney general is also investigating the discovery of more than 40 corpses at flooded-out Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. A hospital official said the 106-degree heat inside the hospital as the patients waited for days to be evacuated likely contributed to their deaths.
The updated Louisiana death toll was released as Gov. Kathleen Blanco lashed out at the federal government, accusing it of moving too slowly in recovering the bodies. The dead ''deserve more respect than they have received,'' she said.
However, Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman David Passey said the state asked to take over body recovery last week. ''The collection of bodies is not normally a FEMA responsibility,'' he said.
Not all the news was grim Tuesday. The New Orleans airport reopened to commercial flights, the port resumed operations far earlier than expected, and Mayor Ray Nagin said dry sections of the city, including the French Quarter and central business district, could be reopened as early as Monday, provided the Environmental Protection Agency determines the air is safe to breathe.
''We're bringing New Orleans back,'' Nagin said. ''We're bringing this culture back. We're bringing this music back. I'm tired of hearing these helicopters. I want to hear some jazz.''
Nagin said the city doesn't have the cash to keep paying its employees and was working ''feverishly'' with banks and federal officials to secure a line of credit to get the city through the end of the year.
Local authorities have been issuing more passes allowing residents to return to the city for the day to check on their businesses, save vital records and retrieve data from computers, although some people arriving by a highway south of the city had to endure a four-hour wait at a checkpoint.
Nagin hoped other evacuees scattered across the country also would return, despite speculation that some would prefer to settle in their new towns rather than face the chore of rebuilding in New Orleans.
''I know New Orleanians. Once the beignets start cooking up again and the gumbo is in the pots and red beans and rice are served on Monday, in New Orleans, and not where they are, they're gonna be back,'' Nagin said.
The Army Corps of Engineers reported significant progress pumping out flooded areas of New Orleans and neighboring parishes. They are pumping as much as 9 billion gallons a day.
Col. Duane Gapinski estimated that half of the flooded area or less was still under water, and the city was on target to be almost completely drained by Oct. 8. More than 40 pumping stations were operating, including the city's biggest pump.
''That will change the world as we know it,'' Nagin said.
The news was more gloomy to the east in St. Bernard Parish, where more than 90 percent of an 17
