They spent some time in temporary accommodation in the city's giant superdrome but arrived back home safely on Sunday to the relief of friends and relatives. Here, they tell their story.

It was a scary, scary place. The corridors were packed, it was too overpopulated, we were on Army rations, there wasn't enough water to go around.

A lot of the people were poor and the standard of living was very low and therefore the conditions were horrific.

Because the National Guard didn't have enough troops to keep control of the situation, tempers were beginning to fray and the situation was getting worse. We had to queue for hours and hours to get food and water.

We heard stories from the paramedics about how bad it was getting; there were riots, fights, rapes.

I was talking to one paramedic and he told us a National Guard soldier had gone into a bathroom, he had been overpowered and his rifle had been taken off him. He had been shot in the leg.

We were with a group of international travellers but there were members who were verbally and physically assaulted.

We knew that because we were with each other, we would eventually get out of it. But it was touch and go for a while.

On Wednesday morning, we had to be escorted out by the National Guard. There were a lot of people coming up to us and just shouting abuse at us, because we were getting out. They felt trapped.

We got out because of the infinite kindness from complete strangers. So many took pity on us and brought us out and we wanted to do anything we could to give something back. These people were helpless, poor and sick.

We were moved to the New Orleans arena which was the sick bay for the superdome. There was 103 international people and we all volunteered.

There was a lot of sick and old people there. There was no air conditioning so we were given bits of cardboard just to fan them. We had to put them to bed, take them to the toilet, we all chipped in and did our bit, setting up beds and feeding them.

It wasn't until we got outside the dome that we were able to see the damage.

There was three or four feet of water. We had to wade through it in order to get from one building to another.

The smell is what the TV cameras can't show, it's just disgusting. There's sewerage, there's oil in the water, I had to throw out lots of clothes and runners.

New Orleans is a war zone at the moment. The American government have to get in there now, quickly.

The people who looked after us are doing such a phenomenal job. I can not have enough praise for these soldiers, for these medical staff who took care of us and are still there.

After we were safe, they went back in to do what they could, and are still doing what they can, but they need more help.

Laurie White lives and works in New Orleans where she and her husband have a law practice.

Her office building has been destroyed and her home damaged. She has travelled to Belfast as a guest of the Law Society to teach trial advocacy.

I feel very lucky, I feel like a refugee.

By Saturday morning, our wonderful mayor told us all we should evacuate. Being a typical New Orleanian, I did not evacuate on Saturday because evacuation is extremely difficult.

You have a 15-hour drive or so just to get an hour along the way. You have to pack up your animals and whatever you feel you want to save.

You make critical decisions which make no sense once you check on it later.

We did evacuate on Sunday morning in absolute fear because they said we were in the bull's eye. We spent only 11 hours to get an hour away on the highway.

The storm hit on Monday, we were all without electricity in Baton Rouge and the phone systems went down.

The storm winds were terrible. By Tuesday, we got reports back, we realised the horrific nature of everything. I started to try and find some of my employees.

We feel very fortunate because my husband was able to sneak back into the city on Friday.

He found that our house was relatively safe but our office building we don't think is there. Basically, even with the house, we can't go back and we don't know what we'll do for a few months.

I took my passport, galoshes, I didn't bring any working clothes, I just brought blue jeans and things.

Amazingly, I packed up two monogrammed towels and photographs of my mother as I had lost my mother the week before.

We had two cats, three dogs and a bunch of finches which I raise. We had more animals and food than we had possessions. Amazingly, you suddenly realise everything that is important. It gets real simple.

It is amazing that your community in the United States could actually suffer like this.

It is one thing to watch a catastrophe and you see suffering for a moment or an hour or even several days like in New York during 9/11. But to watch suffering for days, to not know anything, to have an entire city incommunicado.

It is terrible for me to see the blame game. Obviously we have many people that we can blame.

We have a city that is 68% African-American, our city is double the poverty rate of the entire nation.

We are sort of a third world country in a very charming city that has a lot of character and a lot of characters that live in it.

The majority of African-Americans work in the service business with the hotel industry. Many of our people are working poor or in the low poverty rate. They had no way to escape, no way to get out.

The looting and everything. It is a question of why are you looting and what are you looting?

My city is not a bunch of lawless people. We do have a large crime rate. You look at all the poverty issues and the educational situation - this is a huge social problem.

Who do we blame? We blame everyone for not helping at a point when they should have.

There's lots of things to think about. How can this happen in such a rich country?