An elderly, wheelchair-bound Australian man with cancer has been rescued from his house in New Orleans after his family left him alone when Hurricane Katrina hit, officials said.
Keith Faulkner, 75, was finally rescued by a neighbour after floods stranded him in his home in the US city for five days, said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Mr Faulkner had been found in a nursing home in nearby Lafayette, where he was able to send an email to his family, informing them of his whereabouts.
"He was rescued by a neighbour after five days stranded in his house and he's been in a nursing home in Lafayette, Louisiana," Mr Downer told reporters in Canberra today.
"He's sent an email advising his family of his whereabouts.
"[The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] rang the nursing home on behalf of the family to confirm he was there and in good health," he said.
Australia's new ambassador to the US, Dennis Richardson, said Mr Faulkner's family had "no choice" but to leave the cancer sufferer behind when they rushed to escape rising flood waters.
"The elderly Australian was found in his home," Mr Richardson told ABC Radio.
"He [is] unfortunately suffering from cancer [and is about] 75 years old and when the flooding started his family had no choice but to leave themselves, and he was left in the house as best they could manage."
Mr Faulkner, a dual citizen, has lived in the United States for the past 37 years, Mr Richardson said.
Australian consular officials have been asked to visit him at the nursing home and offer him any assistance he might need.
But Mr Downer said he would not necessarily be moved from the home unless there was a request from the family.
The rescue of Mr Faulkner brings the total number of Australians who could have been in the area affected by last week's hurricane, and who remain unaccounted for, to eight, Mr Downer said.
"There are eight Australians who we think may be in the affected area and we don't know have been evacuated."
Serious concerns are still held for Melbourne man Ashley Trevor McDonald, 30, who was starting a three-week US holiday in New Orleans before visiting his Tennessee-based sister when Hurricane Katrina flattened the city last Monday.
He has yet to make contact with his family.
Survivors land amid storm over MP's attack
Meanwhile, there have been calls for former federal minister Wilson Tuckey to apologise for criticising Australians trapped by the hurricane disaster.
Mr Tuckey had implied the troubles of Australians stranded by Hurricane Katrina were of their own making, Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said today.
"What were a mob of Australians doing there? Were they local residents, were they tourists, were they tourists with travel insurance?" Mr Tuckey said in Parliament last night.
"Why was the woman quoted by the Leader of the Opposition today so insistent, not that the Prime Minister get her out of her problems, but the Australian taxpayer get her out of her problems, when in fact all the warnings we heard here in Australia [said it] was unwise to stay."
Mr Tuckey's remarks followed Labor criticism of Government attempts to help Australians trapped in flooded New Orleans.
Mr Rudd said Liberal Party insensitivity was at work again.
"Frankly, I'm dumbfounded by Wilson Tuckey's remarks," he told reporters.
Australians return home
Two Australian women returned home today after five terrifying days at the New Orleans Convention Centre.
A large family gathering was waiting for Karen Marks, 25, of the Melbourne suburb of Meadow Heights, and her aunt Pamela Whyte, 59, of Broadmeadows, when they touched down at Melbourne Airport just before 8am.
The pair, who were rescued from the Convention Centre by the Australian media on Sunday and spent two nights in Houston, Texas, said they were very happy and relieved to be home and reunited with their family.
"We never thought we were going to see them [again]," Mrs Whyte said.
The women said they feared for their lives as those stranded in the centre became increasingly frustrated.
"The people were really on edge," Mrs Whyte said.
"They could not take much more."
Mrs Whyte said she and her niece used chairs to barricade themselves into a space with another family, sitting in the pitch black as racial tensions and fears that the flood waters would return ran high.
"We were calling it prison because we could not go further than six foot out the big doors," she said.
"We just had our own little section. We stayed close.
"We couldn't make friends easily because they just looked at you - we were called white trash twice."
The Australian women said they were angry that they had received no help from Australian or United States government officials while in the centre.
"We were left there for three to four days on our own, fending for ourselves.
"The cops were nowhere to be seen, or the National Guard," Ms Marks said.
Mrs Whyte said the National Guard were sent in only for the eventual evacuation.
"If we had one, just one person of authority say, 'OK ladies, it will be four days, just be patient,' everything would have been perfect.
"But nobody said a bloody word."
AAP
A 75 year old wheelchair-bound Australian man has been rescued from his home in New Orleans. Keith Faulkner was rescued by a neighbour after floodwaters stranded him in his home for five days. Mr Faulkner is suffering from cancer. He was left behind by his family as floodwaters rose. 

"When the flooding started his family had no choice but to leave themselves, and he was left in the house as best they could manage," the Australian ambassador to the United States said. 

The man was eventually moved by neighbours to a nursing home in Lafayette. 

"He was rescued by a neighbour after five days stranded in his house and he's been in a nursing home in Lafayette, Louisiana," said Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs has been criticised for the lack of support provided to Australian victims of the disaster. The Labor Party has been particularly scathing in its attacks. 

"The bottom line is this: when it comes to helping Australians on the ground, the Australian Government has failed miserably to persuade its closest friend and ally - the United States Government - to allow Australian consular officials access to help our own people," said opposition defence spokesman Kevin Rudd. Mr Rudd was referring to the US governments refusal of a request by Australian consular officials to enter New Orleans and search for Australians. 

"You need a few days to allow people to assess the situation and to deploy personnel. But a week later, we have one official go in and can only stay there until night-time and then has to skedaddle out of there. I mean, what's happening here? It's just not good enough," he added. 

Some people have been critical of the Australians caught in the disaster. Former Federal Liberal Pary Minister Wilson Tuckey attacked the victims, suggesting that they should have left New Orleans earlier. 

"Why was the woman quoted by the Leader of the Opposition today so insistent, not that the Prime Minister get her out of her problems, but the Australian taxpayer get her out of her problems, when in fact all the warnings we heard here in Australia said it was unwise to stay," he said.