I remember the death toll reporting on the tsunami... seemed like it was several days or a week before the high numbers started to come out.
Yeah, sounds like it will take awhile. Electricity is reportedly out over 80 percent of Mississippi, and I imagine cell service and landlines are pretty much kaput, too. One poster upthread pointed out that many roads are still blocked with downed trees, so some smaller communities likely have not even been contacted at all yet.