I was on the phone to a friend of mine night before it hit.
She chose to stay in New Orleans, she said, because "somebody has to work the hospital" (she's a local senior nurse). The first thing that came to my mind was an cholera and dysentary epidemic from all that standing water. I said if you have to stay then at least send your kids and husband out of the city, but she didn't. Now I can't reach her and she would have called if she could.
This thread is intended especially for people like you. Please don't dispair. Nearly all communications are out in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast localities. Your friend and her family may be OK, just unable to call. Hang in there.
Bless your friend and I hope she and her family are safe. My brother is in the city too, and he was okay yesterday (he called my mom once the storm had passed), but his car was rapidly disappearing and there was a couple of inches of water on the first floor of his home. I haven't heard anything since, but these pictures scare the living daylights out of me.