I'm one of those rare people that's actually walked out into the middle (the eye) of a hurricane, and dealt with the leading edge, and the trailing end of a hurricane. I'm the psycho that's going to find a pay phone, and order a pizza in the middle of it, and see if it gets to me on time (last time, it was 3 minutes late).
That said, this one has my wife freaked right the hell out, because she's never lived through an honest-to-whatever-deity-you-hold-to hurricane. The biggest problem with this particular hurricane isn't the wind. It isn't the rain or the flooding. It's the people. People, as individuals, are fine, rational, often times logical beings. But we suffer from what's called 'Mob Mentality'. For each logical, rational being there is in a group, the collective IQ of the group falls. Eventually, the group devolves.
Living in NY (upstate NY mind you, about 20 minutes north of Albany, just outside Troy) I can say that this one is going to be one helluva ride. As to the generator 'shortage'... a few years ago, there was another run on generators because we had 3" of ice on everything. Limbs fell off the trees because of the sheer weight, crushed my back fence, took out the power for both major power companies here, killed a transformer, started fires, general chaos. Afterward, people died because of those shiny new generators they rushed out to get. They were installed improperly, and carbon monoxide poisoning took some lives. If you're rushing out to get a generator, or already have, make sure it's installed in a well ventilated area, away from windows and doors, and definitely NOT in a garage.
The way I see it, if it rains, it rains. If limbs fall off the trees, they'll fall. If there's damage, we'll fix it. Adapt, Adjust. Move on.
