BERMUDA Red Cross took dozens of calls yesterday from Bermudians eager to donate money to help victims of deadly Hurricane Katrina.

Companies and individuals, moved by television pictures and news reports from the devastated Gulf Coast region of the south-eastern US, have contacted the charity asking how they can help the victims.

Petra Spencer-Arscott, health and safety co-ordinator for the Bermuda Red Cross, said no official appeal had been launched as of yesterday.

"We have not launched an appeal, as we can only do that when another country asks for international aid and that has not happened yet," Ms Spencer-Arscott said.

However, the local charity has decided to take funds for Katrina victims, to be passed on to the American Red Cross.

"We've had quite a number of donations already and several companies have approached us about donations buckets," Ms Spencer-Arscott said.

Katrina blasted the Gulf Coast with winds of 145 mph, causing widespread damage and flooding in areas of Mississippi, where the death toll has reached at least 110, and in Louisiana.

New Orleans has been badly hit and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin, yesterday spelt out the scale of the disaster. Asked how many people died in New Orleans, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."

If the estimate proves correct, it would make Katrina the worst natural disaster in the US since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which was blamed for anywhere from about 500 to 6,000 deaths. Katrina would also be the nation's deadliest hurricane since 1900, when a storm in Galveston, Texas, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people.

Mr. Nagin called for a total evacuation of New Orleans, saying the city had become uninhabitable for the 50,000 to 100,000 who remained behind after the city's half-million people were ordered out over the weekend.

The mayor said that it would be two or three months before the city was functioning again and that people would not be allowed back into their homes for at least a month or two.

Around 25,000 people who had taken shelter in New Orleans' Superdome sports stadium were yesterday being evacuated and taken to the Houston Astrodome, in the nearby state of Texas.

Around 10,000 National Guard troops from across the US were ordered into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast to shore up security, rescue and relief operations in Katrina's wake as looting, shootings, gunfire, car-jackings and other lawlessness spread.

That brought the number of troops dedicated to the effort to more than 28,000, in what may be the biggest military response to a natural disaster in US history.

Donors can mail donations to the Bermuda Red Cross, Charleswood, 9 Berry Hill Road, Paget DV 03, or stop by in person. They can donate by cheque, cash, or by debit or credit card over the telephone. The office number is 236-8253.