BILOXI (USA), Aug 30: Helicopters plucked frantic survivors from rooftops of inundated homes on Tuesday and officials said hundreds of people may have died in Hurricane Katrina’s attack on the US Gulf Coast, which sent a wall of water into Mississippi and flooded New Orleans.

The economic cost of the hurricane’s rampage could be the highest in US history, according to damage estimates.

“The devastation is greater than our worst fears,” Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco told a news conference. “It’s totally overwhelming.”

She spoke after an overnight breach in New Orleans’ protective levee system allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to flood most of the city.

In the Mississippi coastal city of Biloxi, hundreds may have been killed after being trapped in their homes when a 30-foot (9 metre) storm surge came ashore, a city spokesman said.—Reuters