# Hurricane Irene: how are you feeling? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179 "2011-08-26T13:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/21 "2011-08-26T16:05:39Z")
I’m concerned because I live in an area with a lot of big trees and somewhat poor drainage, so a tree falling over is the type of thing that can happen. I’ll clear out the back yard, tie down the beehive, pick all the tomatoes I can and hope for the best. I’m also concerned about my weekly grocery trip being a complete disaster, with everybody deciding they have to stock up a month’s worth of food. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/22 "2011-08-26T16:17:03Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > I’m in suburban Philly and I am concerned. Our neighborhood tends to lose power rather easily and sometimes it takes them 24 hrs to restore it. We have property with lots of tall trees in our backyard. All this goes for me as well. Mainly concerned about possible damage to roof, or windows breaking and rain getting in, due to the large trees in our back yard. I’m planning on a fairly lengthy power outage. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/23 "2011-08-26T18:49:05Z")
I’m a little north of Boston, and my main concern is extended power outages from lots of lines going down. I’m going to bring in the outside furniture, trash cans, etc, but don’t plan any other major prep. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/24 "2011-08-26T18:56:29Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Hurricane Irene hype is in full swing. > > About where are you and how are you feeling? > > I’m in DC and it’s my experience through a dozen or so of these that nothing is going to happen. It’s going to rain. It might get a bit windy. The apocalypse it most certainly will not be. Were you here for Hurricane Isabel in '03? That was every bit as bad as they were telling us it was going to be. I’m not terribly excited about a possible repeat. Not panicking here, but mainly concerned about long power outages. Which, given how much Pepco sucks, is probably a certainty. I despise power outages. I’ve got a giant pile of books to read, but it’ll be a hot, sticky, miserable week or however long until they get it fixed. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/25 "2011-08-26T19:10:26Z")
Any other DC dopers old enough to remember Hurricane Agnes? I was a little kid, but I remember my mom storing water in preparation for it. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/26 "2011-08-26T19:16:17Z")
How many times in recent years have we had the whole “hurricane hysteria” thing in New York City only to see it barely graze us? I don’t remember having any heavy action since Hurricane Gloria in 1979. I also remember David (1985) but I don’t remember it being as bad as Gloria. Maybe Irene is the big bad that finally does hit us. But at this point it’s like the inevitable Triple Crown talk that follows any horse which wins the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. The signal-to-noise ratio is so low, it’s next to impossible to worry seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/27 "2011-08-26T19:16:42Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Any other DC dopers old enough to remember Hurricane Agnes? I was a little kid, but I remember my mom storing water in preparation for it. Yes! I remember going to Manayunk (outside Philadelphia) and seeing floods up the the second floor of houses. My mother was in a hurricane in Florida in the 1940s–she said she remembered huddling in a hallway of her boarding house with mattresses over her, and watching entire palm trees fly by. To the end of her life, a strong wind terrified her. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/28 "2011-08-26T19:17:29Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > Were you here for Hurricane Isabel in '03? That was every bit as bad as they were telling us it was going to be. I’m not terribly excited about a possible repeat. I was here, I remember. It hit us straight on. It rained and it was windy. A lot of old trees came down and there were a lot of power outages. There were a bunch of isolated instances of some bad damage, but the vast majority of us experienced only minor inconvenience. It wasn’t that bad. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/29 "2011-08-26T19:21:54Z")
Charlotte got the snot slapped out of it by Hugo, I’m told. Irene is shaping up to be a non-event, however. I txted my brother in Charleston a couple of hours ago to ask what Irene was doing there. “Some rain and little wind” was his reply. To affect Charlotte significantly, Irene would pretty much have to turn due west any minute now. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/30 "2011-08-26T19:38:42Z")
I’m in Florida and feeling a lot like a Californian after the East Coast earthquake, which is to say, somewhat amused. I concur with the OP’s prediction. There will be some flooding here and there. But there won’t be some kind of Northeast Corridor Katrina-esque Zombie Apocalypse™. Although that would be even more entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/31 "2011-08-26T19:52:02Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > I’m in Florida and feeling a lot like a Californian after the East Coast earthquake, which is to say, somewhat amused. :rolleyes: How about you feel amused once the hurricane is over and it’s certain that no one has been killed/had their homes destroyed, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/32 "2011-08-26T20:08:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :rolleyes: > > How about you feel amused once the hurricane is over and it’s certain that no one has been killed/had their homes destroyed, OK? OK, sure. I’ll keep my amusement to myself until then. Please disregard my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/33 "2011-08-26T20:09:14Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I was here, I remember. It hit us straight on. It rained and it was windy. A lot of old trees came down and there were a lot of power outages. There were a bunch of isolated instances of some bad damage, but the vast majority of us experienced only minor inconvenience. It wasn’t that bad. Ditto. Our neighborhood was without power for five days and enough trees fell across the roads that we couldn’t actually drive out of the neighborhood for 3-4 days, but aside from a couple of smashed cars, there were no injuries or serious property damage around here. I don’t remember the weather maps from Isabel, but as far as I can tell, we’re just going to get brushed by Irene. Losing power was a much bigger deal during Snowpocalypse this winter, when people’s homes went without heat for three or four days. I went out for hurricane supplies today. Mostly that involved margarita mix. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/34 "2011-08-26T20:13:11Z")
I’m in California. Our chances of getting hit by a hurricane are about as good as Washington DC getting hit by an earthquake. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/35 "2011-08-26T20:19:36Z")
I seriously don’t understand the thought process some people have. “I am used to bad things happening to me, so when bad thing might happen to other people, it’s funny!” ---
**Author:** ![TGFlynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/58956e/32.png) [@TGFlynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGFlynn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/36 "2011-08-26T20:34:17Z")
We live about 10 miles from the NJ shore in Central NJ. We frequently get high wind gusts (50+ mph) and I can bet this one will be about that and perhaps slightly less. If you go to the National Hurricane Center, it basically says the same thing. I think the news services build it up to get viewers/readers. My bigest concern is the rain as I’ll have to lower the pool water level. The only other concern would be possibly a broken window (hasn’t happened in 11 years). And I have candles so we are all set!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/37 "2011-08-26T20:36:42Z")
Well, I 'm going to leave work in a couple of minutes. Let’s hope I can still find a couple of bags of chips on the store shelves. I went grocery shopping Tuesday and totally forgot to get cream cheese and strawberry jam, hopefully someone will leave at least these two items for me. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/38 "2011-08-26T20:48:43Z")
Scarlet Knights: Why, so I did. My mistake. To clarify, I remember the 1979 hurricane being significantly worse than the 1985 one for New York City. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/39 "2011-08-26T20:52:28Z")
I’m a lot further north of NY/NJ (Montreal) and, while we will get high winds and heavy rain on Sunday, there is nothing to be concerned about. My daughter is in NYC and is, I think, somewhat concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179/40 "2011-08-26T21:22:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I was here, I remember. It hit us straight on. It rained and it was windy. A lot of old trees came down and there were a lot of power outages. There were a bunch of isolated instances of some bad damage, but the vast majority of us experienced only minor inconvenience. It wasn’t that bad. It was pretty awful for us, we didn’t have cable and internet for five days. 😉 I’m not too concerned since the power lines are buried in my neighborhood. I’m going to costco tonight and getting some food as I may grill once this is all over. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurricane-irene-how-are-you-feeling/594179.md?page=3)