New Orleans - A view from above

I grabbed these remarkable overhead shots of New Orleans using Google Earth. Google updated its satellite images of New Orleans in early April after being criticized for swapping earlier post-Katrina images with views of New Orleans before the hurricane. You can read about that controversy here.

Based on the foliage in the unflooded areas and the angle of shadows, my best guess is that these satellite images were taken sometime in late 2006 or early 2007.

Click on any image to view it larger.
The lower Ninth Ward near the Industrial Canal levee break.
The 17th Street Canal levee break, offering a stark contrast between the flooded side of the waterway in New Orleans (right) and the unflooded side in Metairie.
The gardens surrounding the New Orleans Museum of Art were ravaged by the flood.
One of the areas where mountains of debris were piled.
An area in the Uptown neighborhood where the line between flooded and unflooded is clearly drawn.
These pilings on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain used to hold Jaegers, my favorite place to eat boiled crawfish.
Two of the most recognizable post-hurricane symbols: blue tarps and FEMA trailers.

This block of houses, located across from Notre Dame Seminary, burned for days after the storm.
My old street and house in the Bywater neighborhood.
The word "HELP" painted in the chaotic days after the hurricane on the street just around the corner from my house.
The French Quarter pretty much looks as it always has.
As does the Central Business District.