As New Orleans watches the movement of potential hurricane Gustav, another force has hit its yet-to-recover neighbourhoods — the street artist Banksy.

A dozen works by the secretive British artist were spread around the city Friday, on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

"Three years after Katrina I wanted to make a statement about the state of the clean-up operation," Banksy said in a statement released Thursday.

The city's levee wall offered "the best painting surface in the state of Louisiana," he added.

He has been in the city for at least a week, covering surfaces in the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward, much of which has not yet been rebuilt.

Among the controversial images are one of two soldiers, carrying a TV set and apparently looting, Abraham Lincoln as a homeless man pushing a basket and a marching band wearing gas masks.

There are also works reflecting on the plight of New Orleans' residents, including an old man in a rocking chair with an American flag below the words "No Loitering," a boy chasing an umbrella that is blowing out of reach and a girl caught in in a rain shower that comes from under her umbrella.

Banksy painted some of the works over the gray paint left by anti-graffiti campaigner Fred Radtke, who covers up graffiti with paint.

Recently a British man claimed to have unmasked Banksy, a street artist who tries to remain anonymous.

His works, which have sold for more than $1 million, have previously turned up in Bethlehem as well as the U.K.