Mad Max meets Public Enemy. As New Orleans descends into a chaos, US troops armed with a shoot-to-kill policy, are being sent to New Orleans to quell growing lawlessness, four days after Hurricane Katrina hit. Anarchy has spread through the city, where thousands of people are stranded with no food or water, in increasing desperation and fear. Thousands have been evacuated, many to Houston, but many others remain. President Bush, who is to visit the disaster zone, has requested $10.5bn (£5.7bn) emergency funds from Congress. Congress is expected to approve the aid - described by the White House as a "stopgap measure" - quickly, in order to fund rescue and relief efforts in coming weeks. Announcing the deployment of 300 "battle-tested" National Guardsmen to New Orleans from Iraq, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said the men were carrying deadly weapons and were ready to use them. "They have M-16s and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." The deployment came as the thousands stranded in New Orleans endured another hot, fearful night. People made homeless by the flooding have grown increasingly desperate, with outbreaks of shootings, carjackings and thefts. Horrific reports have emerged from the Louisiana Superdome, where up to 20,000 people have been corralled, mainly without power and sanitation, since Hurricane Katrina struck. "People were raped in there. People were killed in there. We had multiple riots," one police officer told the AFP news agency. [BBC News]