News reports today are filled with stories of Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast. Friends of mine from DC to Maine are bracing for the storm. After last year’s meager storm performance, the news media has been pumping up this particular hurricane and its pending disasters.
Evidently, even in New Hampshire, folks are taking the warnings seriously.
Airports are shutting down, airlines are giving waivers allowing passengers to change flights without the dreaded change fees, cruise ships are moving out of port early, insurance companies are urging homeowners to tie down anything that might blow away, planes are being moved out of harms way and not a bottle of water can be found on grocery story shelves along the coast.
Even President Obama who wasn’t concerned earlier during his golf games about the earthquake near DC is now adding to the warnings.
The president said that the federal government was deploying millions of meal and tens of thousands of cots and blankets up and down the eastern seaboard. Forecasters predict the category-2 storm will rock the coast throughout the weekend, bringing 100-mph-plus winds and inches of rain. More than 65 million Americans are within the storm’s potential path, and the direst predictions have the storm directly impacting cities like New York.
As the video above makes clear, folk up in New Hampshire who are right in the path of the storm have been taking all of these warnings to heart with Yankee earnestness and getting ready for the worst. Heck, by the time the storm gets to the White Mountains it might still be a tropical storm. Natives that far north are always excited about anything remotely tropical. Some bars have been reported to be planning tropical drink specials on Mai Tais, Margaritas, Rum and Coke and Pina Coladas.
Hurricanes are no laughing matter, but the mounting hysteria about this “monster of a storm” seems made for TV. Honestly, I hope no one in Virginia, New York, Connecticut or Maine, New Hampshire and the rest of the seaboard gets injured. Good luck on weathering the storm.
UPDATE: Saturday 2 a.m.
The hype over Hurricane Irene is overblown, predicts the CEO of Advanced Forecasting Corporation
The demise of Irene has already begun. There is no visible eye. The storm intensity is down to 99 mph. This would be a low-end category 2 or a strong category 1 storm, while 36 hours ago some predicted a catastrophic category 4 storm. Air Force Reserve aircraft have found that Irene’s eyewall has collapsed, and the central pressure has risen — rising pressure means a weakening storm.
The reduction in storm intensity likely confirms that this storm is not going to be as monstrous as it has been publicly forecast to be.
Yes, it will be windy. However, north of Delaware most hurricane force winds will very likely be gusts, not sustained winds.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
