After Irene: Better to Overhype Than to Underprepare

It may not seem this way to those who lost power, but Irene could have been a lot worse. A patch of dry air in the storm’s path seems to have weakened it just enough to spare us severe damage. When we woke on Sunday morning, those of us who slept were largely relieved. So let’s be grateful, and accept that this one was, for many of us, a practice run.

Not everyone feels that way. 

In this age of blogs, social media, and comment sections, it’s easy to let everyone know your opinion. The week’s online conversations are already punctuated with more than a few criticisms of the media, and cries of “false alarm” and “boy who cried wolf.” In retrospect, the round-the-clock nature of the TV news coverage now seems like overkill and overhype. 

That guy you know who still complains about John Bolaris predicting the “storm of the century” in 2001—he’s going to be especially worked up about this. That guy’s going to be saying things like, “next time I’m not falling for it.” 

Don’t be that guy.

Sure, TV news likes to overhype things, but it’s a rare one among us who can say they didn’t tune in at all to get an update. The constant coverage during an event like this serves a useful purpose, and it’s only natural for competitive stations to want to be perceived as your trusted news source. Nobody wants to be known as the station that showed “The Price is Right” while the storm hit.

In the end, for most of us, the storm was largely just a PITA. However, let’s not all fall into the trap of letting our guard down next time. Ask the locals with flooded basements, who still have no power, whether it makes sense to put fresh batteries in the flashlight and stock up on extra water. But for the grace of God, that could have been any of us, and it may be next time. 

So, when the next storm hits, I choose to be ready again. I probably won’t be boarding up my windows, but I’ll take all the basic precautions. I’ll stand in line at the Acme for that mad rush on milk, bread and eggs—that collective urge to amass french toast ingredients.

We’ll get some extra ice, water, and batteries—just in case. I’d rather be wrong and err on the side of protecting my family, than risk it just to avoid inconvenience. 

How much satisfaction can one actually get from “outsmarting” the weatherman, anyway? In my opinion, not enough.