To all of you in the path of Irene, I will be praying that the storm doesn't do as much damage as they are predicting.
Here in mid America we do not have the hurricanes, but the tornado's do horrible damage in this part of our world. Floods also happen pretty regularly along the rivers, don't know if the news covers the horrible flood along the Missouri River this year. There has been flooding for the last months and some will not be able to return to their homes until Nov or Dec. Interstates and roads have been torn up and lots of businesses etc have been completely destroyed. Many have flood water covering their entire homes for months and everything will be destroyed by the time the water goes down.
Take care, buckle down and if your in danger from water surge, move inland.