There were some obvious and funny situations... with loads of cars driving by and hooting and hollering as the reporter on the scene was talking about how "dangerous" the situation was. At one point a group of teens walked by and flashed the reporter.

I didn't watch the NYC coverage as basically Irene was only a TS by then.

I watched as it hit NC... as a Cat 1.

I see in the news today that there is lots of run off flooding occurring. That is barely being covered.

Yeah NYC did get a lot of sensationalized coverage early on... Hey, loads of viewers live there... got to make those ratings numbers.

Bottom line though, better to be cautious than to ignore it and assume the best.