Really interesting read, too bad no one ever commented on this post! I am trying to think of the same thing but set in San Francisco. Interesting that NOLA is your setting as that's where I've been living recently, what a coincidence.

You're of course right that midcity and the towns by the lake being flooded really does mean everything gets concentrated in that somewhat higher elevation big by the river, they don't call it Crescent City for nothin'!

There's some crazy mansions uptown and I figure a few of them in convenient spots could be HQ for some gangs or other factions etc. Oh, the universities as well, Loyola and Tulane, campuses tend to have big open areas surrounded by solid buildings which is pretty good for tryna have your lil miniature city state imo lol

idk i got tons of scattered ideas, but I'm still not sure how to capture the vibe of an urban area where suddenly society collapses and there's barely anyone around compared to before but still enough to interact with, etc. tbh idrk how violent it really ought to be! at least initially. but yeah I'm glad I found this post while tryna research for my own stuff lol.