BILOXI, Mississippi, August 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Massive rescue operations were underway on Tuesday, August 30, to search for survivors of the devastating Hurricane Katrina, which killed at least 80 Americans, forcing President George W. Bush to cut short his vacation to coordinate efforts to respond to the killer storm.

Helicopters plucked frantic survivors from rooftops of inundated homes on the US Gulf Coast from the Hurricane Katrina’s rampage, the worst costliest natural disaster in US history, Reuters said.

"The devastation is greater than our worst fears," Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said. "It's totally overwhelming."

The storm inflicted catastrophic damage all along the coast as it slammed into Louisiana with 140 mph (224 kph) winds, then swept across Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

The killer storm shattered buildings, broke boats, smashed cars, toppled trees and flooded cities.

This revived memories of Hurricane Camille, which hit the region in 1969 with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) and killed 256 people.

The White House announced Tuesday that President Bush will cut short his nearly five-week vacation in Texas Wednesday to coordinate efforts to respond to the hurricane.

Bush was also expected to visit some of the affected areas, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Blanco said rescuers have so far saved 700 people from rising floodwaters in New Orleans, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).

"Some 700 people have been brought to dry ground during the night," she told reporters.

But the governor maintained that the death toll from the killer storm in one day could be as high as 80.

"We know that many lives have been lost," she said, warning that there was no way for authorities to put together any kind of reliable death or casualty toll.

Most of the deaths appear to have been caused by a massive storm surge that swept in from the sea and as far as a mile (1.5 km) inland in parts of Mississippi.

Hundreds of people climbed onto rooftops to escape the rising water and waited to be rescued. Others may have been trapped in attics.

People run through a parking lot while hurricane Katrina hits Gulfsport. (Reuters)

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said bodies were floating in the high waters in the hit areas, according to Reuters.

"We probably have 80 percent of our city under water; with some sections of our city the water is as deep as 20 feet (6 meters)," he told television station WWL.

"Both airports are under water."

New Orleans is bowl-like city mostly below sea level and protected by levees or embankments.

The levees gave way overnight in places, including a 200-foot (60 meter) breach that allowed the lake waters to pour into the city center.

"We always were afraid the bowl that is New Orleans would fill quickly," Walter Maestri, emergency management coordinator for Jefferson Parish, said in a radio interview.

"Now with the water rising today, it appears to be filling slowly."

Police took boats into flood-stricken areas to rescue some of the stranded. Others were plucked off rooftops by helicopter.

"We've been pulling them off sometimes four at a time, sometimes as many as 12," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Larry Chambers.

"People are being taken to the nearest dry spot then the helicopter's going back and picking up more people."

People used axes, and in at least one case a shotgun, to blast holes in roofs so they could escape.

Many who had not yet been rescued could be heard screaming for help, police said.

"This is a horror story. I'd rather be reading it somewhere else than living it," said Aaron Broussard, president of New Orleans' Jefferson Parish.

In Mississippi, water swamped the emergency operations center at Hancock County courthouse and the back of the building collapsed.

"Thirty-five people swam out of their emergency operations center with life jackets on," neighboring Harrison County emergency medical services director Christopher Cirillo told Mississippi's Sun Herald newspaper.

Before striking the Gulf Coast, Katrina last week hit southern Florida, where it killed seven people.

Katrina knocked out electricity to about 2.3 million customers, or nearly 5 million people, in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, utility companies said.

Restoring power could take weeks, they warned.

The storm had swept through oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico, where 20 percent of the nation's energy is produced.