British survivor tells of her living hell among dead bodies and gangs of gunmen

In an emotional reunion with her family in Britain, the 20-year-old university student from Pontyclun in south Wales described the scene in the city as a living hell where she survived among dead bodies and men toting guns in the hours after the flood.

"It was absolutely terrifying and I feared for my life, said Ms Andrews. She was among a number of British survivors returning home, many of whom had, only 24 hours earlier, been feared dead in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Foreign Office said yesterday that 96 Britons were still missing.

Ms Andrews, who was working for Camp America, took refuge on the 17th floor of a hotel as the hurricane blew in its windows. "We just lay down in the corridors as these thick white clouds just closed in on us. It was hell," she said.

"We went to a convention centre where the National Guard was based but they just turned us away and said we would have to fend for ourselves," she said.

She slept on a 30ft high covered walkway before being rescued by a television crew four days later. "There were dead bodies, including babies, all over the streets and armed looters running around. The smell was awful. It was like a horror movie."

Another survivor, Penny Rounce, 22, was evacuated to Dallas. Her mother, Ruth Rounce, said she had been trapped in the New Orleans Superdrome and became a victim of the intense racial tensions developing there. "Bottles were being thrown at her," she said.

Many relatives have still not heard from their loved ones since the storm ravaged the city. Mike Noone, 51, a Nasa scientist, who moved to live near New Orleans with his family, is still missing.