Dozens of bank branches in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were severely damaged by wind and flooding and hundreds more were still without power a day after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast.
Banks were trying to open branches in outlying areas using generators and skeleton staffs, but were unable to assess the damage in the hardest-hit cities of New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss., and Biloxi, Miss.
Clyde Hubbard, an executive vice president at the $10 billion-asset BancorpSouth Bank in Tupelo, Miss., which has 14 branches in and around Biloxi and Gulfport, said he was preparing for the worst. He said that emergency restrictions barred the company's executives were from visiting the branches but that he feared the damage was irreparable.
"We have had employees call us on cell phones that have seen the branches and the majority have significant damages and some along the beach are totally destroyed," Mr. Hubbard said Tuesday.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. did not know the condition of its 60 branches in New Orleans, said Chris Spencer, a regional spokesman for Chase Bank in Louisiana. He said all the New Orleans branches would be closed "until further notice" and that the company would not even be able to assess the damage until next week.
Mr. Spencer added that most of the Chase's 33 branches in Baton Rouge had reopened and that the others would be opening once power was restored.
Calls to banks headquartered in New Orleans, Biloxi, and Gulfport got busy signals or a message that the call could not go through. Online banking services were down as well at the $8.9 billion-asset Whitney Bank in New Orleans and the $4.8 billion-asset Hancock Holding Co. of Gulfport.
Hancock was hit especially hard. Its headquarters building, which is a half mile from the Gulfport coastline and is one of Gulfport's tallest structures, had many of its windows blown out, according to local news reports. A number of its branches are near the city's waterfront, where the damage was extensive.
About a third of Trustmark's 158 branches were without power, all in south Mississippi. Jerry Host, Trustmark's president, said that the $7.9 billion-asset bank was trying to use generators to open at least one branch in each community.
The hurricane knocked out power in all of Mobile, Ala., much of which was underwater. The six Mobile branches of Bank Trust, including its headquarters, were without power, and some of them suffered minor water damage, chief financial officer F. Michael Johnson reported.
Federal bank and thrift regulators issued statements late Monday encouraging banks to work with borrowers affected by the storm by extending repayment terms, waiving late fees and early-withdrawal penalties, and restructuring loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced Monday that they had mortgage relief programs in place for borrowers along the Gulf Coast.
Peter Gwaltney, the executive director of the Louisiana Bankers Association, said that besides spending the day Tuesday trying to track down member bankers in New Orleans, he met with regulators to find out what banks could do to assist customers.
"These are extraordinary times," he said. "But we are encouraging banks to do what they have to do as long as it's in within sound banking practices."
Bank Trust's Mr. Johnson said that he was too busy getting basic operations restored to pay much attention to such things as loan relief for customers affected by the hurricane. "It's way too early to think about that," he said by phone from his darkened office. "We are first just trying to get the power back on and the branches opened."
