NEW ORLEANS (AP) – National Guard members halted the evacuation of the New Orleans Superdome early Saturday after buses transporting the refugees of Hurricane Katrina stopped rolling.

About 2,000 people remained in the stadium and could be there until Sunday, according to the Texas Air National Guard. They had hoped to evacuate the last of the crowd before dawn Saturday.

Guard members said they were told only that the buses had stopped coming and to close down the area where the buses were loaded.

&#34We were rolling,&#34 Capt. Jean Clark said. &#34If the buses had kept coming, we would have this whole place cleaned out already or pretty close to it.&#34

The remaining storm refugees remained orderly, sitting down after hearing the news.

Guard members reported that the operation for the most part had gone smoothly Friday. Two women had miscarriages and a few people had to be removed from the buses for drinking.

At one point Friday, the evacuation was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the front of the evacuation line, much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome since last Sunday.

&#34How does this work? They are clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?&#34 exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line.

The National Guard blocked him as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage.

The 700 had been trapped in the hotel, next to the Superdome, but conditions were considerably cleaner, even without running water, than the unsanitary crush inside the dome. The Hyatt was severely damaged by the storm. Every pane of glass on the riverside wall was blown out.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has used the hotel as a base since it is across the street from city hall, and there were reports the hotel was cleared with priority to make room for police, firefighters and other officials.

As the evacuations continued late Friday, officials sought to comfort refugees by handing out military food rations and bottled water.

The conditions in the dome stayed miserable even as the crowds shrank after buses ferried thousands to Houston, Texas, a day earlier. While the evacuation resumed Friday, the press of people on the bridge outside the arena was just as great as before.

Friday”s evacuations began about 9 a.m., halted for about an hour and then resumed two hours later.

Things reached such a state inside that people opted to stand on the broiling brick walkway, jammed shoulder to shoulder in temperatures estimated to have reached 50 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) in the middle of the crowd. The sun blazed down from the cloudless sky and officials flew in a helicopter for all-too brief moments under the fan.

It didn”t matter: People passed out one after another. They were carried out on tables. National Guardsmen picked them up and took them in their arms. The medical area in the nearby shopping mall was full of victims being fanned, given water. A nurse said they all were felled by the heat.

Medical help was limited. Much of the medical staff that had been working in the &#34special needs&#34 arena had been evacuated. Dr. Kenneth Stephens Sr., head of the medical operations, said he was told they would be moved to help in other medical areas.

Authorities estimated they could move about 1,000 people an hour when the buses are in place.

Tina Miller, 47, had no shoes and cried with relief and exhaustion as she walked toward a bus. &#34I never thought I”d make it. Oh, God, I thought I”d die in there. I”ve never been through anything this awful.&#34

The arena”s second-story concourse looked like a dump, with piles of trash except in the few areas where people were working to keep things as tidy as possible. Bathrooms had no lights, making people afraid to enter, and the stench from backed-up toilets inside killed any inclination toward bravery.

&#34When we have to go to the bathroom we just get a box. That”s all you can do now,&#34 said Sandra Jones of eastern New Orleans. Her newborn baby was running a fever, and all the small children in her area had rashes, she said. &#34This was the worst night of my life. We were really

scared. We”re getting no help. I know the military police are trying. But they”re outnumbered,&#34 Jones said.

Many waited hours in line for food, said another refugee, Becky Larue, of Des Moines, Iowa. Larue and her husband arrived in the area Saturday for a vacation but their hotel soon told them they had to leave and directed them to the Superdome.

She said she was down to her last blood pressure pill and had no idea of when they”ll get out or where to get help. &#34I”m really scared. I think people are going into a survival mode. I look for people to start injuring themselves just to get out of here,&#34 she said.