IT SMELLS BAD, BUT HERE ARE FEWER DEAD PEOPLE THAN WE EXPECTED: That’s the gist of this post-Katrina report:

Floodwaters recede from the city’s hard-hit east side, revealing neighborhoods covered in slimy, putrid muck and dotted with ruined cars and collapsed houses.

_ The body count in Louisiana climbs to 474, and it’s expected to rise further as state and federal officials go about the tedious task of collecting bodies and identifying them through DNA tests. The total death toll in five states reaches 710.

_ Mayor Ray C. Nagin says the tourist-friendly French Quarter and central business district may reopen as early as Monday after the Environmental Protection Agency said the foul-smelling air in the city was not overly polluted.

_ Nagin expects about 180,000 people to return to the city within a week or two, when power and sewer systems are restored.

Overall, it seems that things aren’t as bad as we feared, and the recovery is proceeding faster than we thought.