NEW ORLEANS – It’s a welcome sight for the estimated 25,000 people who've been waiting for days at the New Orleans Convention Center. A fleet of air-conditioned buses has arrived.

The buses rolled up Saturday morning to start evacuating the huge crowd. And thousands of people began dragging their belongings up the street.

One woman stood at a barricade, clutching her cocker spaniel. She'd been at the center for five days.

Yolanda Sanders said she doesn't know yet where the buses will take her -- but, in her words, ''anyplace is better than here. People are dying.''

Outside the convention center this morning, a man lay dead on the sidewalk, under a blanket, with a stream of blood running down the pavement. People said he died from violence.

The National Guard said troops have already served more than 70,000 meals outside the convention center, with 130,000 more on hand.

About a dozen people who headed down the street to look for food and water said they were turned back by a soldier who pulled a gun.

A Louisiana official said the evacuation of the Superdome has been suspended so that authorities can concentrate on the convention center.

Lt. Kevin Cowan of the state Office of Emergency Preparedness said there are about 2,000 people still at the Superdome. Other estimates have put that number as high as 5,000.

Cowan said the people remaining at the Superdome were not there for shelter, but had recently arrived looking for a ride out of the city. He said those waiting at the convention center have been there longer.