Hurricane man in shelter 'horror'

Russell Porter and Adam Friend are safe after ordeal

A Devon man has spoken of the horrific conditions in an emergency shelter housing thousands of people left stranded following Hurricane Katrina.

Adam Friend, 21, of Rockbeare, near Exeter, had been sheltering in the Superdome stadium in New Orleans.

He is now in Dallas, but said that while he was in the stadium he had felt very unsafe.

He had earlier sent a frantic text to his parents, describing how dead bodies were "all around him".

'So scared'

He told BBC News: "I have never been so scared in my life. We were getting abused and attacked and it turned into a race issue.

"There were about 100 white internationals and a group of coloured guys. They were only a minority, but they made us feel very unsafe, throwing bottles at us.

"The girls were constantly being groped and threatened with sexual abuse."

Mr Friend described how desperate Britons managed to contact the embassy from inside the Superdome, only to be told to call the New Orleans office, which was already under water.

He said he was met by friends rather than Embassy officials after a 15-hour bus journey to Dallas.

"I have never known a more useless bunch of people in my life. The press managed to gain access to the Superdome but they couldn't," he said.

Mr Friend was sheltering with his friend Russell Porter, also 21, from Clyst St Mary, near Exeter, who is also now in Dallas.

Judith Slater, British Consul General in Houston, said they were doing all they could.

She said: "We have teams who have been working flat out for 96 hours, in Mississippi, Texas and Alabama and we have been working with a group from the Superdome and found them a hotel which we are paying for."