Amid horrific accounts of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the US Gulf Coast last Monday, one Bermudian who lives an hour from New Orleans said her home survived unscathed.

Trudy Trott, of Paget, bought a new home in Mandeville, Louisiana, an affluent neighbourhood off Lake Pontchartrain, north of the flooded southern city.

Ms Trott feared for her life and fled to Tennessee after a mandatory evacuation order was issued on Sunday, August 28.

?I haven?t been home yet but the house survived,? she said yesterday. ?There were some large trees down and the electricity and phones are still off.?

Her neighbours are all accounted for, she said.

However, three Bermudians missing since Katrina struck were still unaccounted for yesterday.

Jean La Montagne, the mother of two missing teenagers, was set to make an appeal on a ?CNN Larry King? television special on Saturday night.

However, her appearance was cancelled due to a lack of space. Mrs. La Montagne is now expected to appeal for her sons ? Jamel and Jashun Thomas ? later in the week.

And Deborah Pires said she still has had no word from her daughter Sarah Rigeley and her two sons, aged ten and six, who are missing in GulfportMississippi.

?I have had no word on the two boys,? Mrs. Pires said. ?I am very worried.?

Beverly Rodrigues missed the burial of her father Roger Mayne who was buried yesterday in Mississippi.

?We have been trying since Friday to get out,? Ms. Rodrigues said yesterday. ?We could not get to Gulfport.?

Mrs. Rodrigues and her sister, Sharon DeSilva will hold a memorial service in Bermuda for their father, she said.

Judy Conner lost her $300,000 home in Gulfport Mississippi, but was unable to be contacted yesterday.

The Bermuda Red Cross has now launched a cash appeal to assist in the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

?More than 80 disaster experts from the Red Cross societies of more than ten countries are already in place or making plans to travel to the US in response to a call from the American Red Cross,? it said yesterday.

Funds can be deposited directly to:

Bank of Bermuda 701-21565

Butterfield Bank 20-006-060-401365-200

Or cheques may be made out to: The Bermuda Red Cross, Hurricane Katrina Appeal, ?Charleswood?, No. 9, Berry Hill, Paget, DV03.

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