WASHINGTON – Under a hard rain, smoke rose from the site of what used to be the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Amidst mountains of rubble and debris, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins witnessed two rescue workers struggling to climb atop wreckage in an attempt to plant another symbol of the country’s pride and unity – the American flag.

“It is a glimpse of what hell must be like,” said Collins, adding that she was devastated by the magnitude and completeness of the destruction,

With respirator masks in hand, Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe were greeted with cheers Thursday as they and 40 other senators met with New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to tour the site now known as ground zero. Snowe and Collins witnessed firsthand the devastation of last week’s terrorist attacks and what they called the triumph of the unbreakable American spirit in New York City.

“You can taste the smoke after a while and I still smell it in the air,” said Collins who was speaking by cell phone as she and Snowe left ground zero and rode a ferry across the Hudson River into New Jersey. The senators were heading back to Washington to hear President Bush address Congress and the nation Thursday night.

Heavy rain dampened the smoke in the recovery area, making breathing masks unnecessary, Collins said, but fires still burned Thursday, nine days after the twin towers crumbled in a terrorist attack that has left more than 6,000 missing and presumed dead. To date, only about 170 of the bodies found have been identified.

“To witness such abhorrent and inhumane actions perpetrated on innocent people … it is an overwhelming feeling of emotion and horror,” Snowe said. “It leaves you breathless.”

Rescue workers pushed forward despite the painstakingly slow effort to move throughout the twisted steel and metal to put out fires and recover bodies. The pressure from fallen debris atop seven levels of what used to be underground space below the twin towers makes the removal of debris dangerous and difficult, Snowe said.

The work accomplished and the work still ahead for the firefighters, police officers and rescue workers “is nothing short of a miraculous effort,” she said.

Last week Congress passed a $40 billion emergency appropriation to help finance relief for the victims, for the recovery efforts in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania; and for security measures and military response to the terrorist attacks.

As the senators toured the wreckage site Thursday, they had a chance to meet and speak with rescue workers. They reported that many rescuers cried as they shared their stories of personal loss and thanked the senators for their support.

Despite the tears and rubble, “there was just a gritty determination” on the part of the rescuers to get their job done, Collins said.

“On one hand you see this unbelievable, unfathomable devastation and sadness. On the other you see the incredible spirit of these people, whose determination, courage and strength are inspirational,” she said.

Any hopes the terrorists may have had of dividing Americans in light of last week’s attacks have failed greatly, Collins said.

“I think those who have ever questioned whether Americans have the courage, resolve, commitment or the compassion – it was all there in one today at that work site,” Snowe said. “People have come together and united.

“I’ve always loved New York, but I love it even more now.”