Just out of curiosity, how many posting on this thread have experienced hurricanes? Because what I'm not reading is the understanding of how unpredictable they are. Nobody knows what Irene will do.
I'm a Florida cracker, so I've been through many hurricanes, especially throughout that last decade.
I haven't read the rest of this thread, so I don't know what the temper of this thread has been. However, I should point out that the reason to be so cautious is because of how unpredictable they are. Meteorologists never really know what a hurricane will do until after it does it. That's why it's important to take them
very seriously.
I haven't been keeping up to date on all the details with regards to Irene. However, from what I've seen the major danger to the NE coast is flooding. Apparently, the NE has experienced quite a bit of rain and the soil is now saturated with water. The rain combined with the surge may cause flooding.
Now, I'm not a professional meteorologist by any means. However, my amateur guessing also suspects that another danger is that the houses along the NE coast are not built to hurricane code. In areas of the construction boom, I'm sure that there may be a large number of homes that were put up very quickly with materials that are not designed to withstand hurricane force winds. This makes those homes a danger if they collapse on their tenants.
Another danger is that the power lines may not be built to withstand hurricane force winds either. That will be very rough on the urban areas of the NE, of which there is much.
Or so I've heard. I've never lived in the NE so I don't really know what their infrastructure is like or what it is capable of withstanding. I'm sure that much of that kind of infrastructure is designed to resist blizzards and the like. However, I don't know if it's capable of resisting what Irene is dishing out.
Can anyone else comment on that?
Either way, I'd definitely listen to the authorities and prepare for the worse. Here in Florida, I do anyways every August by buying cases of canned food and bottled water and keeping it in stock just in case.