This Is Amazing

NEW ORLEANS — The vast floodwaters that inundated four-fifths of New Orleans have been almost entirely pumped out of the city, with the remainder expected to be gone by the end of the week, the Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday.

The corps estimated that it had pumped out 87% of the water from within the city, representing much faster progress than the agency had previously reported. Some areas outside the city remain flooded. Col. Duane Gapinski, who is leading the effort to drain the city, said the situation was helped dramatically by three weeks of little or no rainfall since Hurricane Katrina ruptured the city's levee system.