"My neighbor drowned in this blue and white house," the 49-year-old disabled construction worker said as he pointing toward wreckage closer to the Canal. "Every time I come here, I feel a messed up 'vibe". The system failed us."

The neighborhood was opened to former residents Thursday even as rescue workers continue to find Katrina's dead in the wreckage of the Lower Ninth Ward, more than three months after the storm ravaged the once vibrant city.

"We found one Friday, one Saturday and two on Tuesday," said Steve Glynn, chief of special operations for the New Orleans Fire Department.

Glynn and other firefighters, police and National Guard troops are posted at a major intersection in the neighborhood that traditionally serves as the starting point for an annual Martin Luther King Day march in New Orleans. It's now a checkpoint manned by armed troops who are doing their best to prevent looting.

Mayor Ray Nagin said the reopening of the 'Lower 9' is an indefinite "look and leave" opportunity for residents to salvage what they can from their damaged homes, but only from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily.

Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Salvation Army are on hand to help returning residents. Cleanup kits, food, water, and restrooms also are available at a tent near the checkpoint, which was choked with traffic the first day.

Chief Glynn said that the fire department's main concern is resident safety. Scores of houses are unstable and marked for demolition.

"We hope people will stay out of the red-tagged houses and call us if they need assistance salvaging waterproof containers, safes, and valuables," he said.

One by one, Simmons' cousins and neighbors show up near his house. A day of somber reclamation becomes a joyous street corner reunion.

"Everybody knows everybody here," said Simmons' sister Yolanda Miller of Waynesboro, Mississippi.

She took a brick from the ruined house and plans to put it in front of an oak tree in her yard.

"I'm going to put my whole family's name on that tree. Let them know this brick is the foundation of the family," Miller told AFP.

Nearby, Thomas Smith, 35, a neighbor of the Simmons family, squints into a video camera as he films the ruins of a house owned by his sister-in-law.

Smith said he escaped Katrina by evacuating his pregnant wife and two children to San Francisco. Today, marks his first day home in the Ninth Ward.

"You can't do nothing with this," he said, gesturing toward his ruined neighborhood as his eyes tear up. "You can't rebuild from this."

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