Katrina Leaves Extensive Road, Infrastructure Damage

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urricane Katrina left most major roads in the Gulf Coast region damaged or impassible and authorities urged people to stay off them to allow rescue teams to work, news services reported.

Huge parts of coastal road U.S. 90 in Mississippi were heavily damaged by the storm, the New York Times reported, as was Interstate 10, which runs parallel further inland along the Gulf Coast states.

The U.S. 90 bridge spanning Biloxi Bay in Mississippi was knocked out, as were huge parts of the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, the Times reported. Katrina also knocked out a major bridge in Bay St. Louis, Miss., one of the hardest-hit areas in the storm’s path.

Some oil platforms, ripped from their moorings in the Gulf, came ashore into Alabama, with one slamming into a bridge near Mobile Bay, Ala. Oil companies dispatched helicopter crews to assess damage in the region, which pumps about a third of U.S. oil supply, Bloomberg reported.

Barges also were swept inland by the storm surge, leaving them and freight containers swamped in neighborhoods, television reports said.

Close to 3 million people were still without electricity Wednesday, and phone service also was sporadic in the region, news reports said. The lack of electricity was affecting the ability to get oil refineries back up and running, one oil company executive told CNBC Wednesday.

Barrier levees in New Orleans gave way, leaving 80% of the city flooded, and the death toll from the storm rose to more than 100, including a girl who was killed in Kentucky by flooding as the storm moved north, the Washington Post reported.