East Coast Hurricane Coverage

Day late and a dollar short but... Someone asked whether I thought the coverage of the Hurricane Irene was overblown. I am ashamed to admit that at the start of the coverage, I remember myself saying something snarky like-- a Cat 1 is like a Cat 5 in terms of news coverage if it hits anywhere near NYC. This is because I work in the middle of the country and so I feel the news that happens here often gets ignored. I whine about it all the time. But in the case of Irene, I was wrong. Really wrong. Dozens of deaths, billions in damage and the worst flooding in Vermont's history can't be over covered.