AN agonising wait ended for Sue Betteridge this week when she heard that her brother had survived Hurricane Katrina.

Sue feared her brother Mike Healy, whom she has not seen for the last 12 years, may have been one of thousands of victims of the hurricane that swept across the Gulf Coast of the USA.

Mike, aged 48, originally from Alcester lives in Bay St Louis, Mississippi and works as a casino cashier.

Mrs Betteridge, 52, owner of the village store in Broom spent days trying to make contact with her younger brother by calling his mobile phone. Eventually, after days of worry, she managed to contact Mike in the early hours of Monday. Sue broke the news to her worried mother who celebrated her 81st birthday that day.

"I thought I'd try and call his mobile phone as I knew the mobile phone masts would be up before the land line masts were put up. I just kept dialling every time I got the chance in between serving customers and in the middle of the night."

Mrs Betteridge decided to try and contact her brother by ringing during the night, as it would be day time in Bay St Louis.

She and her daughter, Amanda Ward worked relentlessly day and night to try to find out if Mike was alive by searching on the internet and calling various town halls in the area.

Mrs Betteridge added: "We work 5am until 6pm and never take a day off. Me and my husband had decided that next year we would go and see Mike as we've never been out there to see him and then something like this happens."

"I finally heard his voice on Monday morning, I heard the ring tone instead of the usual voicemail message. The moment I heard Mike it was like all my Christmases, birthdays and anniversaries had come at once."

Mr Healy, who has lost everything in the hurricane, asked one thing from his sister and that was to say Happy Birthday to their mother, as it was her birthday this Monday.

He has decided not to return to Britain and told his sister despite the terrible conditions he is happy to remain in a place which he calls home.

"I rang mum and told her Mike says Happy Birthday, she couldn't believe what I was saying she said what? Our parents are both in their 80s and live up in Scunthorpe. "

Mrs Betteridge, like so many others who are trying to track relatives, claims she found the authorities in the States completely unhelpful and got 'more joy from speaking to complete strangers out there'.

Mike told his sister how his home has been completely destroyed by the hurricane and is now living in a mobile home that was not damaged by Katrina.