From
WaPo:
A weakening Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi Monday, but spared New Orleans the devastating direct hit that had been widely feared and that prompted the mandatory evacuation of the city. . . . The worst damage was reported from farther east along the coast of Mississippi, where the storm damaged numerous buildings, flooded streets and heaved boats onto land. In the renowned French Quarter of New Orleans, a city of 485,000 people, the streets were littered with debris, and water had gathered in some places. But there was no sign of the major flooding that authorities had feared. The city's protective levees appeared to have held for the most part. One levee on the Industrial Canal was reported broken, but it was not considered a major problem.
. . . Gulfport, Miss., was hit hard by the hurricane, with reports of buildings collapsing and floodwaters up to 10 feet or higher in some places. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) said his state was hit "like a ton of bricks" and that his worst fear was "a lot of dead people down there" on the coast.