Survivors, pulled from their apartment building in New Orleans by a Coast Guard rescue swimmer sit on the floor of an HH-65 Jayhawk rescue helicopter August 30. Hellish scenes of death, damage, and chaos wracked the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday as overwhelmed authorities tried to rescue the living and count the dead amid the destruction left by powerful Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was filling with water after an initial attempt to stop a leaking levee failed, while police fought a losing battle to stop widespread looting in the stricken city.
