Eleven governors joined New York Gov. George Pataki on a site tour and talked to recovery workers who have been digging through the rubble since Sept. 11.

"I've seen devastation from floods, from tornados, but nothing of this magnitude _ entire city blocks virtually eliminated," said Gov. Robert Taft of Ohio.

Gov. Gary Locke of Washington, who was with the group of governors Wednesday, had already seen the site. He had walked from his hotel Monday night to view the trade center ruins.

"It was just hard to comprehend seeing the site at night with the shadows of buildings _ the sides of some of these buildings peeled away as if they were tin cans," Locke said.

Michigan's John Engler noted the debris that has been cleared since his first glimpse of the site eight days after the terrorist attacks.

"It's outstanding the progress that's been made," Engler said.

Pataki was also joined by Roy Barnes of Georgia, Bob Wise of West Virginia, Kentucky's Paul Patton, Frank O'Bannon of Indiana, Bill Owens of Colorado, Vermont's Howard Dean, Lincoln Almond of Rhode Island and Jim Hodges of South Carolina.

"There's not a day goes by I don't get tears in my eyes," Edwin Soseby, who is with the Army Corps of Engineers working at the site, told the governors.