Talk of hype is pissing me off. Did the media hype the storm like they usually do? of course, but so what. They saved lives, as did the governors and local authorities (regardless of political affiliation) of the storm hit states. I live in NJ. Christie did a great job as did the local authorities. The forced evacuations did save lives. I feel lucky to have gotten through this with some down tree limbs, loss of power for 18 hours, and a hyper-extended elbow.

Here’s what I learned from the “hype”. If a weak cat 1 can do the damage Irene did, I will NEVER take for granted a larger storm, nor a storm of similar magnitude. I also learned what I need in case of a larger emergency (G-d forbid) and will be taking additional precautions next time around. I bet the states/local governments and feds are learning the same lessons. Which is also very important.

BTW-rivers continue to flood entire towns and dams are breaking all over the state.