All Points Blog and The Map Room are both covering this story about Google replacing the flooded New Orleans with pre-hurricane imagery, and how it is angering some people. It is Google's call.. and they can do anything they want.

You can get the Katrina imagery in World Wind with the 2005 Hurricane Add-on. You can also get hurricane imagery from Rita and Ophelia. I believe the GE imagery was the same NOAA flyover imagery that World Wind has, and World Wind also has the USACE flyover imagery (which I think looks better).