A student who survived seven days of hurricane hell in New Orleans has vowed never to go back.

Krishna Jadav, 21, had been in New Orleans for just 24 hours when Hurricane Katrina ripped into her hotel, sparking a week-long ordeal.

She said: "I thought I was going to die.

"Waves of water were flooding through the streets and one smashed through huge glass windows on one side of the hotel.

"It was absolutely horrific. There were reports two women had been raped, and a doctor shot, close to the hotel."

Krishna, of Chorley Old Road, Bolton, is a tourism student at Cardiff University.

She was eventually evacuated from the Hyatt Hotel in New Orleans - where she had gone for a 'quiet break' - and taken to the airport by bus.

She travelled then to Connecticut where she is on work placement as part of her degree course in leisure and tourism.

Krishna said: "There were more than 3,000 people crammed into the hotel, which was very close to the Superdome to which tens of thousands of refugees moved.

"Everything was chaos, there was very little food, no water and I couldn't shower.

"I had gone there alone, but in those conditions people were making friends and trying to get through the disaster.

"I will never return there. It has too many memories of the hell I went through.

"There was no communication between the authorities and no-one could tell us what was going on.

"It was chaos and we did not know what when we would be able to leave." The former Smithills School pupil described the horror of what she saw as she was evacuated from the hotel and driven through battered streets to the airport.

"The place had been devastated. When we eventually arrived at the airport, there was a four-hour queue to get inside," she said.

"There were naked children, people with no shoes, people who had lost everything.

"I couldn't help feeling lucky to be alive and having somewhere new to go to.

Krishna's mother Champa Jadav spoke of her relief that her daughter was safe.

"I was so happy to hear Krishna on the phone. When she got back home I just gave her a big hug.

"I know she is safe now, but I can't believe it until I see her.

"I love her so much and was terrified when I found out she was in the middle of a natural disaster."