BellSouth said Saturday that over 135,000 customer lines remain out of service in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama due to Hurricane Katrina.

BellSouth has established an emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, La., to oversee the restoration of telephone service in the affected areas.

As of 9:00 a.m. Saturday, the following central office exchanges were completely out of service. No telephones with these numbers should be expected to have dial tone, voicemail or call forwarding service.

Area Code 228

Pearlington (533)

Area Code 504

Delacroix (684)
Lake Catherine (662)
New Orleans (280, 282, 283, 284, 286, 288, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 488, 816)
St. Bernard (682, 684)
Ysclosky (676)

Area Code 985

Buras (657)
Pearlington (531)
Point-A-La-Hache (333)
Port Sulphur (564)
Venice (534)

The failed exchanges are in ten remaining central offices (COs) in Louisiana which remain out of service. All of the previously affected COs in Mississippi and Alabama have been restored to service, and eight COs in Louisiana are running on diesel generator power. Restoration of service to these COs depends on the ability of technicians to access the offices and to repair or replace any equipment damaged by floodwaters.

BellSouth damage surveys show over 14,000 poles were down across the region, with about 42,000 network cable spans and about 45,000 individual customer drop wires down.

BellSouth expects a “lengthy recovery period,” according to disaster recovery documents released Saturday.