How strong was Katrina when it made landfall?
Katrina first made landfall near on the barrier island of Grand Isle, LA (over Venice, LA) as a category 4 storm with sustained winds of around 140 mph at around 6-7am Monday August 29th 2005. The storm then continued northward over the wetlands of SE Louisiana and made landfall again along the Mississippi coastline as a borderline category 3/4 storm with winds of 130 mph. The western eye-wall of the storm grazed eastern New Orleans but the brunt of the maximum winds passed just east of town.
