A Mississippi newspaper at the heart of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina survived the 145mph winds and struggled to keep its readers informed via an emergency weblog.
The Biloxi Sun Herald lost all outside communications and suffered a power cut after the roof was blown off its generator. Anxious relatives appealed for information about missing loved ones on the paper's blog, which gave a graphic real-time account of the approaching storm.
"Things are very bad here," reported one Sun Herald correspondent. "I've gotten several hundred specific queries about friends, families and neighbourhoods. I've told several people that it is easier to list the things that are undamaged than those that have been pounded. That's the honest truth.
"We've got significant loss of life, with around 40 dead in Biloxi alone. We're trying to glean other information from coast municipalities and counties, but communications are brutal here at the moment."
Up to 80 people are now reported to have been killed as flood waters rose to 22ft.
The hurricane hit the coast on Monday morning before sweeping across Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida.
Devastation in Biloxi
Experts feared it would devastate New Orleans, but it veered east at the last minute. Biloxi is on the south coast of Mississippi county, north-east of New Orleans. The blog tells how buildings in the town had begun to "implode".
"The wind is whipping now. The roof on the building is creaking. You can hear the building's joints straining," wrote Sun Herald reporter Josh Norman.
"Pat Sullivan called at 6.15 to ask if I wanted to go for a ride with him. I took one look outside and said 'nope'. Anita felt brave briefly and thought she'd give it a go. Then she saw the winds. I also just heard [Pat] over the scanner saying that he had successfully extracted a woman and her four kids from their apartment after the roof ripped off.
"Lots of people still in their homes now and the shelters were pretty much all at capacity last night. I can't believe the complacency of people down there. Time to settle in and be prepared to run upstairs."
The operations director of the Sun Herald, Marlene Kler, said the paper's printing centre had lost power and phone lines, including mobile phones.
"Water didn't get anywhere near the building. We have many, many leaks however. No power, and the roof blew off the generator switch. When the rain subsides we'll try to get it started. Being in the building and draping plastic, using wastebuckets etc, I think saved a lot of damage."
Newsroom staff were evacuated to a paper in Columbus in neighbouring Georgia, where the Sun Herald was due to be printed and then flown into Mississippi by helicopter.
The blog quotes medical director Christopher Cirillo, who said 35 people had swum out of the emergency operations centre after the headquarters flooded. "We haven't heard from them. The only person we can raise on the radio is the sheriff in his car."
Looters 'stole anything they could find'
Looting broke out in the aftermath of the hurricane, according to the blog. "They stole cars, radios, liquor, furniture, generators, and anything else they could find. A furious Harrison County sheriff, George Payne, was heard on the police scanner telling his deputies to make room in the jail."
Among the more unusual evacuees were five dolphins moved from a seaside marine life centre to two hotel swimming pools inland to save them from the worst effects of the storm.
Many of the emails came from concerned relatives. "I have family that lives on Baker Street in Biloxi and they chose to stay, home hoping that the storm would pass and not be so bad. Well their home is a mobile home and I was trying to call them but can not get thru so I was wondering if the phone lines was down in that part of Biloxi."
Another said: "My brother... works security at Memorial Hospital. Windows are out on the bottom two floors, most of the roof is gone and they are losing doors from the wind blowing in. The top floor has been evacuated due to water coming through the roof. He also told me of an employee who had to walk to work from almost in Long Beach. He walked to Memorial along the tracks in almost waist deep water."
Other news organisations were forced to make radical plans for the hurricane with the Times-Picayune evacuating its New Orleans office.
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