Emergency officials confirmed Tuesday night that more than 100 people are dead from Hurricane Katrina in the hard-hit Biloxi-Gulfport area of Mississippi.

But there are fears the death toll could be much higher.

Joe Spraggins, civil defence director for Harrison County, says officials believe the number of dead could eventually reach several hundred.

Authorities had said earlier that at least 30 residents were killed when Katrina wiped out a beachfront apartment building.

"Camille was 200, and we're looking at a lot more than that," city spokesman Vincent Creel told Reuters on Tuesday.

He was referring to Hurricane Camille, which struck in 1969, devastating parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. The total death toll then was 256.

"This is our tsunami," Biloxi Mayor A. J. Holloway told The Biloxi Sun Herald.

Most of the damage in Biloxi was caused by the hurricane's storm surge.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who toured the destruction zone by air, said it's not a case of homes being severely damaged: "They're simply not there. ... I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago.''

In Louisiana, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said, "We have no counts whatsoever, but we know many lives have been lost."

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still awaiting rescue as they remain stuck on roofs and in attics.

"We're not even dealing with dead bodies,'' he said. "They're just pushing them on the side.''

Destruction

Hurricane Katrina -- which could become known as the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- hit land early Monday as a Category 4 hurricane, punishing the Gulf Coast with 233 kilometres-per-hour winds, driving rain and massive storm surges.

Teresa Kavanagh described the damage to her hometown of Biloxi to the Associated Press: "Total devastation. Apartment complexes are wiped clean. We're going to rebuild, but it's going to take a long time. Houses that withstood Camille are nothing but slab now."

About one million people across the affected region are without electricity, and full restoration could be a couple months away.

Helping in the recovery effort are 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen. The Alabama Guard is also planning to send two battalions to Mississippi.

Officials are urging evacuees to stay away from their homes, saying their return would only interfere with rescue and recovery efforts.

Hurricane Katrina is expected to be the most expensive hurricane in U.S. history, with estimates of as much as $26 billion US in claims. That would beat hurricane Andrew, which caused about $21 million US in losses in 1992 along the Gulf Coast.

The hurricane, which forced the shutdown of oil platforms, refineries and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, pushed the price of oil above $70 US a barrel on Tuesday.

At least two drilling rigs were knocked adrift in the gulf. Another in Mobile Bay, Ala., slammed into a bridge after breaking free of its mooring.

U.S. President George Bush was considering tapping into the U.S.'s strategic oil reserves to ease any crude oil supply problems for refineries.