Kansas City Southern Industries Inc. said Tuesday it would prepay about $655,000 in property and other real estate taxes to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The railroad company said the payments would cover property in 11 parishes in Louisiana and three counties in Mississippi and could be used to help local officials pay for recovery work.

“We decided to go ahead and prepay our local taxes so these local governments can get these payments now when they need them most,” Michael Haverty, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a written statement.

Kathy Waterbury, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi State Tax Commission, said her office had received a “handful” of calls from large property owners and businesses wanting to prepay property taxes in the region rather than waiting until the typical February deadline.

The railroad, which is slowly restoring freight operations to New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss., and other Gulf Coast ports, said that it has contributed $30,000 to various disaster relief charities.