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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Car rental firms are scrambling to move thousands of vehicles to the Gulf Coast in an effort to quell demand for cars after Hurricane Katrina, according to a news report published Monday.
USA Today reported that demand from insurance companies, relief and government workers as well as individuals affected by the storm are forcing companies such as Hertz and Enterprise Rent-A-Car to shuttle thousands of vehicles to Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
A spokesperson for Enterprise Rent-A-Car told the paper that they plan to move at least 11,000 vehicles to the Gulf Coast region over the next two weeks.
Hertz plans to move more than 1,000 vehicles, a company spokesperson told the paper.
The companies, as well as competitors Avis and Budget, are also facing significant damages to, or closures of rental facilities in the New Orleans area, according to USA Today.
All 12 Budget and Avis offices located in New Orleans are closed, while a Thrifty spokesperson said facilities in Biloxi, Miss. and the Gulfport airport offices are closed, according to the paper.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car said 24 facilities are either flooded or have suffered severe damage and that two others were destroyed.
Of those vehicles that did not escape Hurricane Katrina's wrath, a small percentage remain unaccounted for, USA Today reported. Avis and Budget spokesperson John Barrows told the paper "a very small number" of cars are unaccounted for. Hertz spokesperson Richard Broome told the paper that five percent of the company's New Orleans fleet -- about 100 vehicles -- are unaccounted for.
"We are still trying to figure out where all of the cars are," Broome told USA Today. "We have been able to do no more than preliminary damage assessment due to continued flooding conditions and inaccessibility."
The paper also reported that many of the rental car firms are also facing a shortage of vehicles because a large number of renters returned vehicles to other regions in the country after fleeing Hurricane Katrina.
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