A Canadian search and rescue team in Louisiana says conditions on the ground are so dangerous, it has to wait for order to restore before they can get to work in the devastated hurricane region.

British Columbia's Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) left for Lafayette, La. Wednesday night after being asked by state officials for assistance.

On Thursday, the team was in Kenner, La. -- a small city of about 75,000 on the Mississippi River's East Bank -- where police described the violence and looting as "out of control."

USAR is working with Louisiana State Troopers, as well as the National Guard.

"It's far too dangerous for even the state troopers and police to wander out," said USAR member Brian Inglis in a statement Thursday on his team website, vancouver.ca/usar.

"It's absolutely crazy, the devastation is unreal -- the gunfire, the shooting, the looting is like something you see in a movie. "

Acadian Ambulance Service says it was greeted by an armed and angry crowd as it tried to airlift supplies into Kenner Memorial Hospital late Wednesday.

Richard Zuschlag, president of the ambulance service, said his medics were "crying, screaming for help," and that his pilots "refused to land."

Inglis said the team won't be performing any search and rescue operations for at least the next eight to 12 hours until authorities bring the situation under control.

"Unfortunately, from time we were given orders to move from Lafayette at 4:30 a.m. this morning up here, the lid has blown off this place."

Kenner has about 190 officers patrolling the city, according to Kenner police spokesman Steve Caraway.

The USAR team includes 32 search-and-rescue experts, and is equipped to provide emergency room doctors, building engineers and swift water rescue personnel.

Although the team is equipped with satellite phones, Inglis says even they aren't working.

"There is virtually no communications here. We're using the MCI truck that's been set up, and using their satellite communications network."

Ray Holdgate, chief of USAR Vancouver, admitted the team was anxious before boarding the plane Wednesday night.

"It's one thing to train; another thing to arrive in a situation like they are seeing now."

Holdgate told CTV News from Vancouver that the team is self-sufficient for a length of about 10 days, but that its deployment will be decided on a day-to-day-basis.

"I said to Brian, you need to be safe, number one," said Holdgate. "And secondly, as long as you are doing some good, you need to stay there."

Inglis said he and the team are prepared to "hunker down" in the Bayou State.

Despite the 35° C heat and 98 per cent humidity, he said they're equipped with water, and some "good ol' Louisiana cooking the locals have cooked up for the police officers and ourselves."

With files from CTV Vancouver