NATCHEZ &045; The Natchez Trace Parkway staff doesn’t know when the scenic highway will look like it did before Hurricane Katrina hit.

Though the Trace reopened three days after the storm, numerous trees are down from Natchez to the Tennessee state line, and some buildings are damaged.

&uot;The most dramatic damage is north of the (Ross Barnett) Reservoir (in Rankin County) and south of Houston,&uot; Trace Chief of Maintenance Rusty Rawson said. &uot;There are a lot of trees blown down and some damage to a building in Ridgeland.&uot;

Near Natchez, Mount Locust historical site and Turpin Creek and Coles Creek picnic sites are closed due to damage from falling trees. The restroom facility at Coles Creek is closed also.

Farther north, the Rocky Springs campground picnic area and Jeff Busby campground and picnic area are still closed.

&uot;We are trying to get them open and get the trees off the roadway,&uot; Rawson said. &uot;We had trees blown down onto buildings, but no real flooding issues on the parkway.&uot;

Downed trees or limbs are visible nearly at all times on the roadway from Natchez to Clinton.

The immediate concern after the storm for National Park Service staff was removing trees from the roadways. Many were cut off just shy of the road. Removing downed trees that are not blocking traffic will come later.

Rawson said no timetable has been set for those repairs because of the massive damage done in other parts of the state.

&uot;We just consider ourselves fortunate,&uot; he said.

&uot;But we are still part of what’s trying to be recovered. We’ve got a lot of cleanup to do.&uot;

Some of the parkway’s buildings are still without power and phone service.

Rawson, who has surveyed the damage from the roadway and from aircraft above, said the Trace was hoping to get cleanup help from outside the parkway staff, but had not begun that process yet.