Weather security

Experts predicted Harvey a year before it happened

Experts warned of a monster hurricane like Harveycoming for Houston more than a year ago — but the city’s mayor scoffed at the time, “Only a small portion of the city of Houston is at risk for major storm surge,” according to a newly unearthed report.

In a prescient 2016 story, scientists warned the website Pro Publica, “It is not if, but when Houston’s perfect storm will hit” — adding city, state and federal officials have failed to flood-proof America’s fourth-largest city after it narrowly escaped widespread devastation from Hurricane Ike in 2008.

“We’re sitting ducks. We’ve done nothing.” said Phil Bedient, co-director of the Storm Surge Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters Center, to the outlet at the time. “We’ve done nothing to shore up the coastline, to add resiliency … to do anything.”