Wow -- truly amazing satellite photo. I've been to New Orleans several times and always had a great time. The food, alone, is all the reason you need to go. The initial photos of flooding look a whole lot like what Houston had a couple years back in Tropical Storm Allison. If that's the worst of it for New Orleans, they'll probably consider themselves very lucky.

EDIT: I looked through all the photo spreads on the NYTimes home page. Looks like the damage in New Orleans is far worse than what we had here. Look at those pictures and tell me about the bravery / insanity of the photographers taking them. Stuff flying through the air, rain coming down heavy, and the last thing I'm going to be doing is reaching for my shiny, expensive digital camera.