I would not want to be around when a hurricane hits.

I’m sure you wouldn’t, either.

If you, say, live near the Eastern seaboard, I’m fairly certain that the governor of your state would want you to move away from the coast as soon as possible with a hurricane on the horizon.

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Irene clobbered the East Coast with high winds and heavy rain. At least, that was what the media was promising New England residents.

I had been watching the storm very closely, since I have family living on the East Coast. From what the media was telling me, Irene was going to hit the coast – hard. It was expected to be a Category 3 hurricane. The politicians began advising everyone to be safe and move away from the storm at all costs. As a result, I became very worried for my family.

Hurricane Irene came and passed through the East Coast.

When I checked back with my family in New Jersey, I learned that they had driven through the rainy mess on the highway, pausing only to visit a college campus mid-storm. My family in New York City was only frustrated that the subway was shut down temporarily for the storm.

I was caught off-guard. What about the politicians’ warnings? What about the floodings in Vermont? My family seemed totally unconcerned. (Of course, one could always take the point of view that my family is either senseless to the extreme or merely an unusual circumstance, from the scientific perspective.)

It struck me as odd that so much hype was built up around what seemed to be merely a heavy rainstorm in most of the Eastern states.

Then, I realized that the last thing politicians would want to be responsible for is a huge hurricane disaster, especially with the Hurricane Katrina tragedy still etched clearly in their minds. No one in his or her right mind would want to be at fault for a tragedy like that.
Although I hope that people of influence continue to caution civilians each time a hurricane passes through the mainland, I fear that people near the coastlines will disregard these warnings after some time, especially since it seems that most warnings and precautions were (to some degree) heeded but not needed for Hurricane Irene.