Harry Connick Jr feared for the safety of his family and friends after Hurricane Katrina hit his home city of New Orleans.

The singer was in New York when he saw television reports about the damage caused by the deadly hurricane, and feared the worst when he was unable to get in touch with his loved ones.

"I tried to call my dad, my family and all the phone lines were down, but the hurricane actually by-passed New Orleans and I thought everything was going to be fine except for some slight damage, but the next day I heard on TV that 80% was under water," Connick explained during an interview with Parkinson.

"I was very concerned about my family's welfare and my friends, and I ended up going down there the day after - man, it was like a war zone."

Connick made the trip with the president of NBC, and eventually toured the city with a TV crew in order to draw attention to the extent of the damage.

"As I came over the Mississippi river bridge the whole city was a blackout," he continued. "They told me I could go down there if I would do some correspondence work for them, they wanted to show the world what was going on and asked if I would go round the city."

Parkinson airs at 10.55pm tonight on ITV1.