THREE families from Newport's Marlborough Road returned to their homes yesterday to see if they could rescue any of their belongings from the wreckage.

Katie Cook, 26, bought her mum, dad and sister along to help load the car with clothes, books and anything else she could salvage from her home.

It was the first time that she had seen her home since evacuating the building with her sister on Tuesday - and she found it relatively unscathed by comparsion with some of her neighbours.

She said: "It was better than I expected really the down stairs needs to completely redecorated but the upstairs isn't as bad.

"The damage is mostly from all the water and smoke.

"What was really shocking was going into the garden - it is just rubble.

"But to be able to go in there and get some stuff is brilliant.

"I feel sorry for those who have been left with nothing."

Sister Caroline Cook, 25, and mum Angela Cook, 47, of Lliswerry, lent Katie a helping hand to recover her belongings.

Caroline Cook said: "We are a very close family and we wanted to come along to support Katie.

"Katie's had a lot of support from everyone. Her phone hasn't stopped ringing and her friends put together a hamper with little things that she might need in it and a bottle of vodka."

Mrs Angela Cook said: "It's devastating to see the house like this, we worked so hard to get it right."

But Katie had another blow when she went into her home.

She said she found that her jewellery box, wallet and digital camera had gone missing when she went into the house.

The missing wallet contains her cards and £30 cash.

There is about £500 worth of jewellery in the jewellery box, but most notable is a family hierloom.

"I can't really put a value on the jewellery box - it had my grandfather's ring in it and he died when my mum was just four years old.

"It's a gold shield signet ring with my Granddad's initials - HPL (for Herbert Patrick Love) engraved on the inside.

"There were other gold and silver necklaces in the jewellery box but the ring is the most important thing, it is really important to my family."