yes very much so.
couple of things happened that really saved New Orleans.
One, the Hurricane slowed down. This gave the land masses near the Hurricane more time to affect it, and weaken it.
Two, it wobbled East. Had this thing been 10-15 miles closer to New Orleans at landfall, the entire city might be flooded, not just the East side of the city
Three, it is moving faster than it was. Had this storm stayed at a slow motion for more than it did, the torrential rains, along with the winds would have caused even more flooding.
Yeah, if it had hit head on, I'm not sure how it would have played out.
Probably much worse than it did.