Ominous Hurricane Katrina Prediction Resurfaces on 17th Anniversary

On the 17th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, an ominous prediction made a day before the storm made landfall has resurfaced on social media.

On Monday morning, popular meteorologist James Spann shared a tweet that included a statement issued by National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Ricks on August 28, 2005, one day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana.

"This is the statement issued by NWS meteorologist Robert Ricks (from the Slidell office) the day before Katrina made landfall. Some thought this "doomsday" statement was a hoax. Unfortunately, it wasn't," Spann wrote in the tweet.

In the statement, Ricks warned of Hurricane Katrina having "unprecedented strength," and said that widespread property and infrastructure damage was likely.

The tweet posted by Spann comes 17 years after Hurricane Katrina reached New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Katrina brought widespread damage and death to New Orleans and surrounding areas, including parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

"Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes to strike the United States in recorded history," the National Weather Service in New Orleans said in a statement on the 15th anniversary of the storm. "Katrina's destruction wasn't limited to just Louisiana and Mississippi with damage reported as far east as the Florida Panhandle due to the large wind field and storm surge associated with the hurricane. In all, Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and caused $108 billion in damage [unadjusted 2005 dollars]."

In the statement shared by Spann, Ricks said: "Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks...perhaps longer...at least one half of well constructed homes will have roof and wall failure.

"The majority of industrial buildings will become non functional. Partial to complete wall and roof failure is expected...power outages will last for weeks...as most power poles will be down and transformers will be destroyed...the vast majority of native trees will be snapped or uprooted."

According to the National Weather Service in New Orleans, Katrina formed as a tropical depression around August 23.

"Katrina became a hurricane just before making landfall near the Miami-Dade/Broward county line during the evening of August 25. The hurricane moved southwestward across southern Florida into the eastern Gulf of Mexico on August 26. Katrina then strengthened significantly, reaching Category 5 intensity on August 28," the National Weather Service said.

Upon making landfall, Katrina produced wind speeds of over 100 mph as well as "storm surge flooding of 10 to 20 feet above normal tide levels along the southeastern Louisiana coast."

After the storm made landfall, widespread damage was reported and over 1,000 fatalities were reported.

"Since Hurricane Katrina, the community of New Orleans has shown amazing resiliency and an intense desire to rebuild," National Hurricane Center Acting Director Jamie Rhome told Newsweek in a statement Monday night. "At NOAA's National Hurricane Center, we continue to advance the science of storm surge forecasting to mitigate the loss of life and property. We have introduced storm surge risk communication tools and storm surge watches and warnings while also increasing watch/warning lead times.

"Since 2005, NHC's track forecast errors have been reduced by 35-40 percent, while NHC's intensity forecasts errors are 40-50 percent lower at days 3 to 5. The upcoming peak of hurricane season underscores the importance of being ready and keeping well informed with the latest information from the National Hurricane Center and your local National Weather Service office."

Update 8/30/22, 9:13 a.m. ET: This story was updated with a statement from the National Hurricane Center.