Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene was the first major storm of the hurricane season. It's effects were felt from the Caribbean and as far north as Atlantic Canada. Damage in the United States alone is estimated to be as high as 7.1 billion dollars.

The East Coast learned from the mistakes from Hurricane Katrina: The National Guards of all states at risk were prepared for recovery, and several mandatory evacuations were in effect. By the time the storm hit North Carolina, it was a category 1 hurricane, and by the time it hit New York, It was a tropical storm. However, despite being relatively weak compared to other storms, it's heavy rainfalls and storm surges managed to cause major flooding in all states effected. One women in Queens, New York, said that there were jellyfish and crabs in her stoop.

Although Hurricane Irene managed to get New York City to shut down its public transportation systems completely for the first time ever, the impact of the storm was much less severe than it could have been. Proper precautions were taken, in order to keep it from becoming the storm of the decade.