The building was severely damaged when the storm hit on August 29, while its occupation by up to 25,000 refugees further gutted the building that once hosted a papal visit and was the site of the 1988 Republican Party nomination of former US president George Bush, leaving it awash in sewage and trash.

Damage assessment teams cannot even begin to ascertain the extent of the devastation until the toxic layer of filth and debris left by refugees has been cleared out, said Doug Thornton of SMG, the company that operates the 30-year-old Superdome for the state of Louisiana.

"It's premature to make any statements or determination about the future of the Dome," Thornton told a press conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's state capital, adding that the building was in tatters.

"Until we have a full damage assessment, ... we can't make any judgments. We need information first," he said.

While the once proud emblem of New Orleans will forever be associated with the hellish conditions that evacuees endured until they could be rescued from the city five days after the storm, it has a proud past, Thornton said.

But the storm and the flood of survivors who crowded into the building afterward have taken a dreadful toll on the building that could prompt state authorities to raze the Superdome, he conceded.

The wind got under dampers on the giant dome's roof, peeling off its rubber coating and steel lining "like an onion" when the storm struck, packing winds that probably exceeded 256 kilometers (160 miles) per hour around the stadium, Thornton said.

"It has sustained considerable damage. I would say that 60 percent of the roof has failed," he said, adding that it would cost at least 100 million dollars to repair the building and 500 million to 600 million to rebuild it.

Most of the damage to the building was a result of the failure of the roof, which has three gaping holes and about eight smaller ones ripped through it.

The human wave that followed wrought further havoc, causing the toilets to back up and send a tide of sewage across the building's once-gleaming concourses and football pitch.

"We lost water pressure sometime early Wednesday. I was frankly amazed that it lasted that long. Conditions began to deteriorate very quickly after that point," Thornton said.

"The plumbing system is in very bad condition and the concourses are in very bad condition. The field is absolutely ruined at this point and I think at has to be removed."

Survivors of the storm who found shelter in the Superdome reported overcrowding, overflowing toilets and murders and rapes taking place in the building as the people fended for themselves for five days until help finally arrived last Friday.

Thornton said that once the "toxic" waste and hazardous material had been removed from the building and a decision on its future had been made, it could be up and running again in the first quarter of 2006.

"It's an icon that the people of New Orleans could rally around and could be a symbol of the rebuilding of New Orleans," Thornton said, adding that the building's superstructure appeared strong.

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