Interesting information. Re: the extreme damage you describe in Rigolets (almost all of 700 homes destroyed), was that from wind or water? I think there is unanimous agreement that Katrina was an extreme storm-surge event. The controversy seems to be around the wind speeds.

You're right, it was not completely accurate of me to say the eyewall missed New Orleans-- I should have qualified that by saying it missed the downtown area.

One question I would have is: Is that fire chief qualified to estimate wind speed? The HRD is known for being extremely conservative in their wind estimates-- but even the NHC only puts Katrina's winds at 110 kt at landfall in LA-- with the assumption being that those were the absolute maximum winds anywhere in LA and probably occurred further S. So 120-130 mph (approx. 105-115 kt) sustained in the New Orleans Metro region would be much higher than what NHC believes to be the case.

Either way, it is just amazing that winds weren't higher, given the landfalling presure of 920 mb!!