You know, part of it was definitely this mindset that "oh, Irene wasn't that bad, it's just the news media blowing it out of proportion again!"

In a way, the worst thing that could have happened to us was Irene. I remember we went all out preparing for Irene. We were nervous, the fire department rode around telling us there was a mandatory evacuation, and - in our area - it was a big nothing burger. Power was out for a few days and nothing else happened really. Then a year later Sandy hit and - in the middle of it - we came to the realization that Sandy WAS the real deal. I had water lapping up against the tires of my first ever brand new car. I was convinced I was about to lose it to the surge. Thankfully, the water started receding before that. My neighbors weren't so lucky.