BellSouth said that it hasn’t heard from 49,000 customers in Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes after Hurricane Katrina.

Most of the missing customers are from New Orleans, the company said.

Some of the customers have returned to their homes but don’t have a dial tone, others have evacuated and plan to come back, and yet others have left and do not plan to return.

BellSouth plans to disconnect and shut down accounts for missing customers on January 31 unless the customers make arrangements to keep their accounts active. The company mailed letters to the customers earlier this month, but it’s possible not all of them have received the letters.

Customers can opt to keep their service, disconnect their service and give up their telephone number, suspend the service for a year but retain the telephone number, or have calls to the number forwarded to another number, even in another state.

If you haven’t already done so, contact BellSouth to make arrangements for your line by dialing toll-free +1-888-899-2852.