Reporting from New Orleans...

From what I have been able to discern, most wind reports for New Orleans when Katrina hit were specifically from the downtown area, and Lakefront Airport. So, it's mostly true that downtown New Orleans (i.e., French Quarter and residential areas surrounding) only experienced sustained Cat-1 winds.

However, and this is the main point, the boundaries of the City of New Orleans (Orleans Parish) extend much further east than most people realize.
In the Lake Catherine Community near Chef Menteur Pass, which is still technically part of the City of New Orleans, the western eyewall passed directly overhead. A local fire chief I spoke with stayed and experienced winds that he says were easily in the 120-130mph range, sustained, with much higher gusts.

As a matter of fact, the Lake Catherine/Rigolets area got it *just as bad as Waveland, MS*; certainly Katrina's Ground Zero. Out of 700 homes in this area, only 12 remained standing, and those were serverely damaged and are presently uninhabitable.

For some reason, this is being totally discounted and ignored by NOAA and the press as well. Local residents, and former residents of Lake Catherine (which I must emphasize is part of the City of New Orleans, and Orleans Parish) are pretty outraged at the ignorance of the press and almost complete lack of coverage for this area which is just as much a part of New Orleans as the 9th Ward and Lakeview.

In summation, anyone who says New Orleans did not experience more than Cat-1 winds is full of it, including NOAA and the Feds!!
M.