Obama: 10 years after Hurricane Katrina, 'still work to be done' in New Orleans

More is needed to help overcome poverty and inequality in New Orleans, 10 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, President Barack Obama said.

The US president heralded the progress made by the city since the disaster a decade ago, touring a neighbourhood full of colourful new houses, a new school and a community centre.

As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama had harsh words for the president at the time, George Bush, for his government's handling of the aftermath of the storm - criticism he levelled at his predecessor again.

"What started out as a natural disaster became a man-made disaster, a failure of government to look out for its own citizens," he said.

The storm had "laid bare a deeper tragedy", he added, exposing a structural inequality which left "too many people, especially poor people, especially people of color, without good jobs or affordable health care or decent housing."