[oh8eleven]

We believe that when she gets finished with the east coast of the US, Irene will prove to be one for the record books!
Having just watched the various news channels this morning, I do believe you are wrong.
Irene hit the NY area like a soggy pillow with winds not even at hurricane strength. Damage is minimal.
Nevertheless, the talking heads keep screeching like it was still was a Cat 3. In fact, during one report, a jogger went by. LOL ...

[Kaslin]

Just reported on Fox and Friends by Julie Banderas, who is in Battery Park

HUDSON RIVER OVERFLOWS

[srmorton]

I could well be wrong, but it is much too early to make a final determination about that. Hurricanes are “rated” in our part of the country as memorable not by their category but by how much damage they cause. This is a HUGE slow-moving storm with LOTS of rain associated with it. A tropical storm that lingers on the coast for hours can cause damage. Most hurricanes hit quickly and then are gone. Irene took more than 12 hours to completely make it out of the state.

A case in point - in August 1999, Hurricane Dennis (a category 2) never even made landfall but lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for almost a week causing a tremendous amount of rain. Two weeks later, Hurricane Floyd, which was forecast as a category four, was much weaker when it actually hit land, but Dennis and Floyd together eventually led to the worst flooding this state had seen in over 100 years and,according to geologists, exceeded 500 year flood levels. Entire inland communities were underwater for days. Floyd was responsible for 57 deaths and $4.9 billion dollars in damage.