As the rescue and recovery effort continues in the U.S. Gulf Coast, Canadians are returning home with harrowing tales of survival.

They are among the thousands forced to seek refuge from the floods that ravaged New Orleans, and other cities, following Hurricane Katrina.

According to the latest report, there are nine Canadians unaccounted for in the region. There are no known Canadian fatalities.

Josie LoBianco, Sara Coppa and Marianne Hurley

Josie LoBianco, Sara Coppa and Marianne Hurley were in New Orleans for a girls' weekend when Hurricane Katrina dealt a devastating blow.

When the mandatory evacuation order was first called Saturday, the Toronto-area women tried to get a flight out of New Orleans, but all planes were grounded.

They were reassured when told they could take shelter in their hotel and that emergency crews would be monitoring the situation.

Later, hotel employees asked the women to leave, telling them they would need to fend for themselves.

But it didn't come to that. A U.S. military helicopter was about to airlift them from their hotel when sniper fire drove it off.

As part of their exit, the three had to make their way through the infamous Superdome, where children had been raped and people murdered -- if they didn't succumb to the deteriorating unsanitary conditions.

"There was water up to my thighs, and it was disgusting, totally disgusting," LoBianco said, her voice breaking. "There was no order, there was nothing. It was terrible."

Flown back to Toronto from Texas, where she and her two cousins were met by sobbing relatives, LoBianco said she was thankful to be home.

"I am so thankful, so grateful. We live in a wonderful country. We have no idea how lucky we are," she told reporters at Pearson International Airport.

Jason and Karen Weir

In New Orleans to celebrate a wedding anniversary, Jason and Karen Weir were staying at a hotel in the French Quarter when Hurricane Katrina approached.

They were evicted from their hotel, and sought refuge at a Holiday Inn, where they weathered the storm.

"The power went out and came back on again," Jason said on CTV's Canada AM.

"Then it went out and we heard a low rumbling for half an hour. And then all hell broke loose. The windows started to flex."

After the storm, they headed to the city's Convention Center, but were told it was going to be used as a military facility and a hospital.

The couple joined about 10 other tourists and headed to higher ground - a bridge outside a nearby shopping mall.

With virtually no police presence, the tourists had to fend for themselves.

"When night came, it was terrifying," said Jason. "There was no power. We heard gunshots and blood-curdling screams everywhere."

Ultimately, the couple climbed aboard a crowded bus leaving the city, and made their way to an airport in Shreveport, La.

Almost a week after their ordeal, the couple was still shaken.

"It was a poor city to start with," Jason said, his voice choking with emotion. "That city is gone."

Christine Zobniw

Christine Zobniw, an English professor at Toronto's Seneca College, was evicted from her hotel in the French Quarter, as floodwaters continued to rise in New Orleans.

Finding herself on the streets, she banded together with several British, Australian and Canadian tourists, she told The Globe and Mail.

They spent their days and nights trying to survive at a makeshift campsite outside a New Orleans shopping centre.

From their elevated perch on a two-storey bridge, they witnessed what Zobniw described as anarchy.

"There were basically gangs of looters, looting the stores in the mall, running among us as we were sitting and sleeping," she told The Globe.

Her group, which fluctuated between 30 and 70 people, was left to fend for itself. They looted rations when necessary and held votes on decisions.

Through their ordeal, Zobniw and her companions persistently called the Canadian consulate in Dallas, appealing for help. Eventually, the consul-general told them to leave the city with Americans if they were able to.

Six of the Canadians caught a bus to Waskom, Tex. From there, they rode in a volunteer's pickup truck to Shreveport Regional Airport, and then caught a flight to Toronto.

Larry Mitzell and Jill Johnson

On the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina struck, Larry Mitzell and Jill Johnson of Saskatoon were enjoying a brief city tour of New Orleans.

"We were probably among the last people on the face of the planet to have seen the French Quarter at its best," Johnson told CTV's Canada AM.

Hours later, they were evicted from their hotel.

The couple was fortunate enough to contact Mitzell's cousin who allowed them to stay in his hotel.

But soon thereafter, employees at that hotel were ordered under martial law to close the doors and turn them out.

"I grew up in an upper-middle class family," Mitzell told The Associated Press while he was still stranded in New Orleans.

"Street life is foreign to me. I'm not sure I'm going to get out of here alive."

Forced to fend for themselves, Mitzell and Johnson ended up sleeping on the streets of the historic French Quarter until police ordered them to get out.

"When we thought we would get out of New Orleans, police were shooting in the air and they made us go back," Mitzell told CTV News.

Only after many confusing and terrifying hours, did they finally arrive at the makeshift camp beneath the overpass where they were eventually rescued from.

"In essence, we did it on our own with another group of tourists from all over the world," Johnson said.

"With very little help from the city, the state or the federal government in the United States."