Trail cold as family try to contact Katrina survivor

The joy Brendan Clifford-Walsh's family felt at hearing he had survived Hurricane Katrina has turned to despair.

The family of the 65-year-old Aucklander do not know where he is despite being told on Wednesday that he had survived the killer storm. They last heard from him on August 28 in an email.

His daughter Melanie McCahill said yesterday: "Everything was relaxed and it's now tense again".

Mrs McCahill, wife of former All Black Bernie McCahill, spent the day calling the United States for information about her father.

She had been told he stayed at a Hyatt hotel in Dallas but was alarmed to learn he had not registered as a guest at any of the three Hyatts.

She was told he might have been among British and Australian citizens evacuated from New Orleans and put up at hotels in Texas without necessarily registering.

But she said she was still concerned at his lack of contact and feared he might be injured or traumatised.

"Something nasty could've happened and he just wants to go off and recoup by himself."

Mrs McCahill is taking some comfort from the fact that information her father was safe came from both Irish and New Zealand officials.

"If we've got two reports from two different countries it's got to have some truth to it."

Three other New Zealanders remain unaccounted for after the hurricane. Their names have not been released, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said all three were residents of the affected areas.