On Friday, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg told the public that preparation and potential evacuation was a matter of life and death. Dramatic? No. We're talking about a city of 8 million people and a region of 20 million – the population of Australia.
The to-do list: Make a “go bag” with essential items; stock up with enough food and water to last for five days; fill your bath tub with water; buy a battery-powered transistor radio; fill your car with petrol.
On Friday afternoon, supermarkets were packed with shoppers buying bottled water and food supplies. Shelves emptied fast. “I'm not being dramatic,” said one shopper in line at the checkout, slightly embarrassed that her regular supermarket trip (she claimed) coincided with an impending natural disaster. She was buying three of EVERYTHING.
An example of other priorities, Chinese bakeries in my neighbourhood sold out of red bean buns before the 99 Cent stores were emptied of AA batteries. The transistor radio industry did get a surprise boost. You trawl the Internet for fact or fiction hurricane survival advice (to tape, or not tape, the windows?) You clear the basement floor. You explain to a two-year old she can't go play on the swings – probably for two days.
And then you wait.
I live two blocks from an evacuation zone so, so long as power did not go out, could indulge Irene from the security of the sofa with TV and Internet in full effect. Another point: local, community TV had superior coverage of unfolding events compared with their mega network rivals.
The sun came up and as the rain thumped on the air-conditioner, a live gauge of Irene's anger, you could see the trees bend and buckle as the storm's centre crossed over New York City. We survived that but, as the TV anchors told us, 9am and 11am on Sunday were important points on the clock. That was high tide. That was flood watch. That was when Hurricane Katrina caused her real havoc.
New York City escaped reasonably unscathed. Some people called conspiracy on Mayor Bloomberg's over-preparation. Someone in Australia tweeted that Americans were “drama queens” for how they handled the storm.
But at least 29 people were killed. In New Jersey, 20-year-old Celena Sylvestri was driving to her boyfriend's house at around 1am when she apparently came off the road into a flooded creek. Her first call was to her boyfriend. The second was to 911. The police mounted a search but didn't find her car – and body – until eight hours later. Her seat belt was still on. Like I said, the mundane details.
Politician felt the need to get their hands dirty. Presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann said on Monday that Irene was “God” telling politicians to listen to him. What? Noooo. Yes. She really said that.
But then again, that is so last week.
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