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Last big Cat 5 storm to hit the area was Camille in 1969, with winds approaching 200 mph and gusts reportedly over 210 mph. Here's the Wikipedia entry:

Camille produced the fourth lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, a scant 901 millibars; the only hurricane to hit the United States with a lower pressure at landfall was the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, which measured 892 millibars. The true intensity of Camille can only be approximated, as no meteorogical equipment survived the extreme conditions at landfall, but Camille is estimated to have had sustained winds of 190 mph at landfall, with gusts exceeding 210mph (340 km/h). Camille retains the record for the highest storm surge measured in the United States, at over 24 feet (6 metres) (see storm surge profile). Camille turned eastward as it moved inland, unleashing torrential rains of up to 31 inches (790 mm) in some areas of southern Virginia. By this point it had been downgraded to a tropical depression, but it re-emerged into the Atlantic Ocean east of Virginia, where it briefly became a tropical storm again before dissipating.

Impact

Camille killed 143 people along Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana as it obliterated an enormous area of the Gulf Coast; the area of total destruction in Harrison County, Mississippi alone was 68 square miles (176 km²). An additional 113 people perished as a result of catastrophic flooding in Virginia. In all, 8,931 people were injured, 5,662 homes were destroyed, and 13,915 homes experienced major damage, with many of the fatalities being coastal residents who had refused to evacuate. The total estimated cost of damage was US$1.42 billion 1969 dollars, or 6.1 billion [1996] dollars. The damage was staggering at the time, but it was dwarfed by the ruinous 36 billion dollars in damage caused by Hurricane Andrew.

The Hurricane Party

One persistent legend about Camille states that a hurricane party was held on the third floor of the Richelieu Manor Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi that wound up in the path of the eyewall as it made landfall. The high storm surge flooded and destroyed the building, and there was only one survivor to tell of the story of the 21 others. Who the survivor is, how many party guests there were, and just how far the sole survivor was swept by the storm varies with the retelling.

In reality, most of the people that stayed in the Richelieu Apartments survived, and there was no party. Residents, exhausted from helping to prepare the town to weather the storm, took refuge in the building not out of recklessness, but because it was believed to be one of the sturdiest buildings in the area. Survivor Ben Duckworth is quoted in Hurricane Camille: Monster Storm of the Gulf Coast as stating that the Richelieu was a designated civil defense air-raid shelter. However, their faith in the building's sturdiness was unfounded, as it was completely demolished by the storm. Twenty-three people are known to have stayed in the Richelieu Apartments during Hurricane Camille, but only eight died.

The tale of the lone survivor and the party appears to have originated with survivor Mary Ann Gerlach. Other survivors, including Duckworth and Richard Keller have expressed irritation at the story.

“The hurricane party never happened, nor were the number of deaths associated with the apartment inhabitants accurate,” says Pat Fitzpatrick, Mississippi State University professor and author of Hurricanes: A Reference Handbook.

The mythical hurricane party has been referenced several times in pop culture, and formed the basis for an episode of Quantum Leap titled "Hurricane".

Trivia

In 1969 the naming conventions for hurricanes were not strictly controlled as they are today. John Hope, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center named the hurricane in honor of his daughter Camille who had just graduated from high school. The name was later retired.

I'd say Katrina will probably be retired from the list once it's all over.