Areas with great need for relief assistance

Although hurricane Katrina's most powerful winds missed New Orleans Monday, the storm thrashed low-lying regions along the Gulf Coast:

• New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says that 80 percent of the city is flooded, with some areas under 20 feet of water. A water-main break has made the city's water unsafe to drink.

• A large section of the 17th Street Canal levee gave way, flooding Lakeview, Mid-City, Carrollton, Gentilly, City Park, and other neighborhoods in New Orleans.

• In St. Bernard Parish, east of New Orleans, 40,000 homes were reported flooded.

• There are reports of up to 80 deaths in Mississippi's Harrison County, which includes Gulfport and Biloxi. Thirty were killed in an apartment complex near the Biloxi beach. In Gulfport, the fire chief estimates that 75 percent of all buildings have major roof damage, "if they have a roof left at all."

• US 90, the main highway connecting Gulf Coast communities, was buried under inches and even feet of sand.

• Red Cross
(800) HELP-NOW
www.redcross.org

• Salvation Army
(800) SAL-ARMY
www.salvationarmyusa.org

• National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
(703) 339-5596
www.nvoad.org

• America's Second Harvest
(800) 771-2303
www.secondharvest.org

• Feed the Children
(800) 627-4556
www.feedthechildren.org