I think it is more along the lines that they are saying as far as they had heard, the levees had not been breached. Nothing about them being 'safe', just providing a current status on what was known at the time.
The article doesn't provide a whole lot of context and certainly doesn't support its headline.
It appears if the original AP article used a headline that is more accurate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060303/ap_on_go_pr_wh/katrina_video