See this report from dailykos on Hurricane Katrina:

"The monster storm Katrina raged ashore along the Gulf Coast Monday morning with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour, driving rain and huge battering waves, expected to top 28 feet in some locations. There were early reports of buildings collapsing along the coast, roofs blowing apart and windows flying out in office buildings. New Orleans' Superdome, serving as a shelter for about 10,000 people, lost power and was leaking from the roof, parts of which flew off.

. . . While the National Weather Service said New Orleans might not be as hard hit as originally feared, it also warned of a grave threat to life and property in coastal regions of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, including New Orleans and Biloxi, Miss. By 6.30 a.m. EDT, power was going out in locations across the area of impact. Mike Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that while he could not assess damage, roofs were being peeled away across the coast and he had reports of plate glass windows flying through the air.

. . . Gulfport, Miss. was getting hit hard, with reports of buildings collapsing. The same situation was reported from Biloxi. Some windows were blown out of office buildings in New Orleans even before the brunt of the storm arrived.

A wobble eastward of the hurricane made it unlikely that New Orleans would take a "direct hit" from the most powerful edge of the system.
But the weather service stressed that Katrina remained a life-threatening force. "This is still an extremely dangerous and potentially deadly hurricane," said a statement from the National Hurricane Center..."

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