Yes, the average error in position for a three-day forecast is over 300 miles, and forecasters have very little skill in predicting if a hurricane will get stronger or weaker. This situation is improving, though - in the past two years, the National Hurricane Center has been using a jet that flies around a hurricane and drops probes that make weather measurements. When data from the probes are analyzed, the forecast of the hurricane's track improves by about 20 percent.
Scientists still lack basic understanding about how hurricanes work.
There is a determined research effort underway to gather more information about hurricanes and develop improved forecasting models of these complicated phenomena. Not always, but usually. Once a hurricane gets north of Florida, it almost always re-curves to the north and northeast. I doubt that even a major hurricane could knock down the statue, though, it is a pretty tough structure. If the upper-level winds pushing the hurricane stop blowing, then the hurricane stops.