Irish newlyweds tell of nightmare escape from city

A NEWLYWED couple from Ireland who travelled to New Orleans for the honeymoon of their dreams told yesterday how they were rescued from the squalor and mayhem of the storm-ravaged city.

Jean and Michael Leydon, who were married three weeks ago, said looters, street gangs and soldiers flanked flooded streets as they waded from their hotel to a makeshift refugee camp in a sports arena.

The couple, from Dromahair, Co Leitrim, joined hundreds of other holidaymakers in a bid to flee the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina.