If you were in the path Irene would you leave your city and home?

I would only leave if it was going to be a direct hit by a category 4 storm or greater or I lived in a low-lying area subject to storm surge.

Katrina was very different in that New Orleans holds the Gulf back with dykes and levees, it is essentially below sea level and the water table there is very high. Flooding was a given. In NYC the possibility is there, but not an absolute. There is also the fact that most of us in the area have seen so many of these storms that we have a pretty good idea of what can be withstood. I’m right in the crosshairs where I live (in a coastal town) in CT but I don’t feel the need to evacuate, I don’t feel that I will be more than very inconvenienced. The town I live in has a good handle on what is happening, and I’m keeping on top of it.

Did you just compare Katrina to Irene? It is hype and I’m not going anywhere because of some high winds and rain.

Hmm. Well that does put it in perspective, but while I watch the news the mayors are freaking out and so on, so I think that’s where I get conflicted.

@Meego Welcome to the mainstream media. Remember “Mission Accomplished”? It’s always better to be careful, but evacuating is going too far, for some people. It would just create a huge mess.

@Blackberry Hey don’t hate! I’m in Ontario and ive never lived through tropical whether I have no clue!

The news is freaking out, the mayors are working on making sure that people in low-lying areas stay safe.

In Ontario we are NOT prepared. I learned this just last week while I watched YouTube videos of a small town near me of ppl watching by windows and driving thru tornados!!! during the tornado
the devastation

That is fricken crazy! Southwestern Ontario just went through a ban of tornados when I saw the red alert I was hiding.

Probably not, I would just prepare as best I could, but I’d hedge my bets that it wasn’t going to be severe enough to warrant an evacuation.

There are a lot of conditions that would affect a hurricane by the time it reaches NYC and more likely it will loose a lot of punch by the time it reaches NY so I would simply get supplies to ride out the power outages and enjoy the relative seclusion a natural disaster will provide. If perchance I has low lying or seaside property I would prepare for the storm surge that I fear most will underestimate.

I will never forget visiting Zoo America in New Orleans 1 week before Katrina hit and couldn’t help but notice all the canoes, kayaks, and row boats tied up in the rafters of all the maintenance buildings. Being prepared is Everything

I wouldn’t leave unless I was going to be flooded by the storm surge. I would take pictures when it is over.

I must be a big wuss. :/

Or just not experienced in these areas…

LOL definatley not experienced! I can’t even go on a boat let alone live near flooding areas! Did you ever see a cruise ship sink? I’ve drowned once I’m not doing it again. Have you ever been in a trailer that almost tipped over while a tornado goes by? I have and I’m not going camping again either!

It’s OK, Sweetie, I promise we won’t stake you out in the path of the storm…

Yes. In my experience, erring on the side of caution is better.

@Meego Lol, sorry. I wasn’t hatin’.

this is a category 1 storm.

Wake me if it gets to a 3.

@JilltheTooth Well thank god for that! lol.

I just heard 3 ppl have died also a 9 yr old was killed by a tree that collapsed into the apartment he was in!!! And you say it’s all about experience!!! I don’t think mother nature cares about experience
They say Irene is on the exact to the mile projected path!
In this day in age with all the technology it seems absolutely senseless that ppl die. That’s probably my biggest point I guess.

I have done my research. We are in a zone that would only be affected by a category 3 or 4 hurricane which this is not. I’m not prone to paranoia.

I guess not since I haven’t but if told there was mandatory evacuation, I would.

Irene is tiny – not in area, but in strength. I’ve been to the beach in worse storms. Seriously.
Granted, the boardwalk I was playing on that day was gone the next, but the point is that I lived. ^_^

As far as the “to the mile of the projected path”, three days ago it was supposed to hit Orlando and cross Florida. The projected path changes twice a day.

Yes, well, then I don’t I just feel silly now for worrying about my friends and family.

Not at all, @JilltheTooth

As a Floridian, I suppose I am as jaded about small hurricanes as someone who lives in California would be about, say, the “massive life-threatening earthquake” that clearly devestated Washington D.C. last week.

But, since Washington D.C. isn’t terribly accustomed to seismic activity, it’s completely understandable that people was freaked out.

Irene is not Katrina. I was raised on the SC coast and never evacuated for a single hurricane. Even Hugo. Irene is a relatively tame hurricane. The weather media needs something to talk about.

I would only leave if it was a major hurricane.

I’ve spent a lot of my life in the NE, the difference between one that we don’t bother to notice, and the one that could do a lot of damage if it makes it this far without downgrading to lesser tropical status is apparent to me, all you “I live in the south so you guys don’t know what it’s really like” people. Different regions, different issues.
I’m done here.

I think it’s hard to assess unless your in it’s path. The evacuations are for safety. They don’t want ppl stuck too long if they don’t need to be I guess.

I think everyone in DC in govt should stay put while we pray for a hurricane and an earthquake at the same time, epicenter of earthquake in the Oval Office….just sayin’

@plethora O that was a helpful comment!

Irene and Katrina can hardly be compared. I’m pretty much in the path, and I’m staying put. Course, if I tried to leave the Cape the storm would be over before I made it over a bridge. Two bridges and tons of scared tourists=one hell of a traffic jam.

So I’ve been told now 3X that Katrina and Irene can’t be compared. Geez I get it anyway I’m not comparing. I merely wondered because no matter what both are crisis.

@janbb Glad you “liked” it. Sometimes levity is in short supply among us.

I was In Virginia Beach when Hurricane Floyd passed through. My hotel room was right next door to the CNN news crew. They went outside my window, and tried to take pictures of the ocean surge.

The reporter was all dressed in the yellow rain gear, but they had to interrupt filming when a family with two young children walked past the reporter dressed in their regular beach swim suit clothing.

When the hotel power went out, I drove to a nearby grocery store to buy some ready to eat food. Silly me, I bought microwave dinners. The rain was steady and I didn’t even try to avoid getting wet, it would have been useless.

Irene has now been downgraded to a level one hurricane. I think at her worst she was level 3? There is no comparison between that and Katrina. I would not leave my home in a level one unless asked to by the authorities or unless there were other mitigating factors that I felt put me or mine at additional risk.

I doubt if I would go anywhere, I live in Florida and have been in the direct paths of hurricanes before and never left. The last one I sat through with my little bird was hurricane Charley.

No we are not leaving. The biggest inconvenience I am expecting is a power outage if anything. I will have to deal with life without tv, internet and microwave for a short while but i’m sure there will be no real damage here in my neighborhood. At the end of the day Ill still be going to work on Monday thanks to the super huge backup generator…

(providence ri)

Katrina was a Cat 5 storm hitting a below sea level city. This is a hurricane 1, most likely tropical storm in NYC. I would only leave if I lived in the low lying areas. Most of my Florida friend who now live in NY are having hurricane parties.

Ok, so I just saw your post that you have been told many times they don’t compare, sorry I wrote the same basically. A tropical storm is not a crisis typically. It is a stay inside and prepare for power outages.

Yes, Katrina brought a 28 foot wall of water 8 miles inland at its point of landfall, Bay St Louis, MS. My daughter lived there at the time. Totally destroyed beach homes that were over 200 years old and had been through innumerable hurricanes. Katrina displaced 80% of the urban population. Per @JLeslie, Irene is for hurricane parties.

@JLeslie it’s ok :) I only meant by learning from Katrina, it just seems useless that ppl are dead and some in low lying areas just wouldn’t move…I should of been more specific.

I’m watching the coverage..looks like a lot of water to me in many places. Of course I don’t live in those areas so I don’t know. But we had a tornado in my town, 2 in 34 yrs…didn’t have to tell me twice. I grabbed the things most important to me and hid. If they told me to get the hell outta dodge I’d of done that too.

I know this will sound awful, because it seems like I am comparing to other storms again, but a tornado is way worse than a hurricane, in terms of wind speed. Although tornados can develop in hurricanes. A hurricane 5 is like a tornado 3, or something around that. I agree in low lying areas that are near the shore, prudent to evacuate. Evacuations usually only go about a ½ mile inland during Cat 3 storms in FL more or less. We are usually evacuated to A1A, and the further west to US1 if the storm is very strong, if you are interested in how the evacuation zone usually looks on the east coast of FL. Evacuations can cause deaths also, car accidents and other tragedies happen in the scurry. It also costs people money, time, and stress. So the city officials need to balance immediate threat to life with the complications of evacuating.