I've got to tend to agree.
I think of looting as a dry-land, out of power type of event.
This is a bit different is some cases. If the area of town is completely cut off by water, it's not like the store's inventory is not going to be written off.
It is a survival there right now until the water recede.
In areas where that's not the case then it's just plain theft in my eyes.
Many have small boats throughout the area. I assure you... some are looting with their boats and pirogues.
I have seen many similar comments and people need to understand very clearly:
The water CANNOT RECEDE from the City of New Orleans.
The water must be pumped out. The vast majority of these people will need to be rescued/evacuated long before any sort of reasonable life sustaining services are available.
This is not a 'wait it out and hope for the best' situtation - it is a 'get out as soon as you can anyway you can' situation.