Aussies trapped in New Orleans

September 02, 2005

AN Australian couple has been forced to shelter under a bridge near dead bodies and steal water to survive after being trapped in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, where hundreds have perished.

Joanne and Tim Miller have been living under the Sky Walk Bridge in the Warehouse District of New Orleans since hurricane Katrina hit on Sunday night.

Tim, 54, a postman, and Joanne, 49, a catering company owner from Rockhampton, had no food, no access to their money and feared for their lives as looters armed with guns took over the streets of the flooded city, their daughter Tamara said yesterday.

And two Brisbane women are holed up in a New Orleans hotel, with many more Aussies feared stranded in squalid conditions among about 100,000 displaced people awaiting evacuation.

As the expected death toll from Katrina rose into the thousands, the Federal Government last night confirmed it had received several distress calls from trapped Australians.

The devastating hurricane has left about 80 per cent of New Orleans under water and an estimated 78,000 people have sought refuge in shelters, with countless more without shelter.

The Millers were forced from their French Quarter hotel after flood waters caused by hurricane Katrina, which struck the US Gulf Coast four days ago, engulfed New Orleans.

They were in Miami but were told to go to New Orleans to avoid the path of the hurricane, Ms Miller said.

Ms Miller, who last spoke to her parents yesterday morning, said the pair could not get to an evacuation point out of New Orleans because of the dangerous conditions.

"They have now taken up refuge underneath a Sky Walk (bridge)," she said.

"It's their third night out on the street. They had to steal a bottle of water their first night out to drink. They haven't had anything to eat."

Brisbane's Fiona Seidler, 27, and sister-in-law Katie Mclean, 25, remained trapped in their French Quarter Hotel last night. Although indoors, they are also subsisting without running water and power while watching their food and fresh water supply dwindle.

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