The Charlotte County Chapter of the American Red Cross office was like a beehive Tuesday as staff and volunteers tried to handle all the phone calls coming in, most of them inquiring about loved ones caught in the path of Hurricane Katrina. 

A CNN veteran reporter late Monday night was broken by the sights and sounds of people pleading to be rescued from rooftops. The mayor of Biloxi said, "This is our tsunami."

By Tuesday, 80 percent of New Orleans, a 180 sq. mile area was reported to be under water after breaches in the levee made the worst case nightmare come true for the city of jazz and Mardi Gras. Biloxi, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and much of those states were just beginning to measure the devastation. Thousands have been left homeless; the death count just beginning.

The phone calls coming into the Red Cross office in Murdock, which serves the entire area from Port

Charlotte, Punta Gorda to Englewood and Boca Grande sadly couldn't be answered in a way to appease the caller, said Dee Ann Ingalls, community development director.

"So many were asking that we try to contact their relatives, but the only way we could do that is if those people were on oxygen or insulin and have a medical emergency," said Ingalls. "As we know from our experience with Charley, communications are very limited, not even satellite phones are working as well. This is an unprecedented disaster.”

In the meantime the American Red Cross has mobilized its largest relief operation for a single natural domestic disaster in its history, said Megarie van Sickel, executive director. "This is such a large area with so much devastation," she said. "It's going to take time, but we know from last year recovery is possible."

Hundreds of Red Cross volunteers are already

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