Hurricane Irene

In the whole grand scheme of things, no one can control the weather nor the majority of what it'll destroy.

The most important thing is how everyone acts in response to it. Hopefully the powers that be will handle everything promptly, efficiently, and most importantly correctly. The most important thing is that people don't act like animals during the aftermath. There are a lot of very good people in NYC and the surrounding areas, even in the "worst parts." Hopefully the few miscreants don't take the worst case scenario as an excuse to act like animals.

Joe (Trelja) -

We were smart and left Sea Isle on Thursday night. you should have seen the gas line at the Shell on Central. The Wawa on the other side of the causeway was bad too. We had filled up the tank on Wed., sealed up the house and had no traffic getting back to Cinnaminson, where we have spent the last 2 days nailing down and brining in everything that might blow around. glad that you and your family stayed back here. My neighbor's brother and father are riding it out in Cape May.

I am talking about those who think its cool or a badge of honor to ride out a storm. I hope nobody is injured but there are idiots we all know this.

But for shear, destructive power. I'd take sitting through Irene than the Joplin tornado anytime.

Roger that, Dan_ed. Biggest difference, besides the intensity is the randomness and differential time frame under which they unfold. In most cases, aside from those random "fickle finger of fate" events, you have adequate warning these days to get to safety from a hurricane. W a tornado, you may get enough warning to put your head between your legs and kiss your a$$ goodbye.

The eye is supposed to track just west of West Hartford, CT, where I live but as was noted, the has storm tracked a little inland through NC and did not get another shot of energy from the warm ocean. Given the unusually warm water temps in the Atlantic this year, I believe, that this will result in a serious PITA inland w lots of property damage (mostly on the shore) but not a killer like a Cat 3 or 4 storm tracking over NYC or the tornadoes this spring. A lot will depend on whether the exact timing; storm surge on top of normal high tides in Western LIS, East River and NY Harbor could be trouble; 6 hrs later at low tide, just a minor inconvenience.

Good luck w your beach house, Joe. Looks like ours on Nantucket will be fine.

In general I would prefer a hurricane over a tornado unless its a very strong hurricane, that can be like a 6hr tornado. This stirm isnt nearly as bad as predicted or feared but the last thing Obama wants is to be compared to Bush even if the two events are night and day.