Sound Off: Did Officials Overreact In Preparing For Irene?

August 29, 2011 2:00 PM

A tree is seen uprooted during Tropical Storm Irene, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Long Beach, N.Y. Irene caused more than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the East Coast to reportedly lose power over the weekend, and at least 11 deaths were blamed on the storm. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Tropical Storm Irene has blown through the area, leaving parts of the Tri-State awash in floods and other parts relatively unscathed.

In New York City, mass transit was shut down entirely – an unprecedented step which brought the city that never sleeps to a virtual standstill. Mayor Michael Bloomberg followed that with another unprecedented action: The first-ever mandatory evacuation of some residents.

“I think in retrospect we did the right thing,” Bloomberg said Monday. “Common sense says we should do what is right to protect the public.”

CBSNewYork has been asking our viewers on our Facebook page all weekend what they thought of the measures taken by officials. An unofficial survey of your comments suggests that most of you think they did the right thing.

“The concern for the safety of the people was very important,” wrote Judy Hojnowski Hunter on Sunday. “The information and preparations surely saved lives.”

“Better to be safe than sorry,” wrote Dawne Marie. “There’s nothing worth your life and the lives of others.”

Not everyone agreed, though.

“HUGE overreaction,” wrote Rob Postrel, also on Sunday. “I’d be pissed if I got evacuated over a rain storm.”

“This mismanagement is exactly what we don’t need here in NYC,” wrote viewer Kevin James Dalton. “Because now when the next really big storm comes people will not take it so seriously due to media/politicians crying wolf over this one prematurely.”

One Gulf Coaster wasn’t impressed.

“I used to think New Yorkers were tough as nails,” Patrick Lemire wrote. “Lee Press-On nails is more like it. It’s one thing to prep for the worst case scenario, but this is laughable.

“If they didn’t take precautions, people would still complain about them not doing anything and knowing it was coming. You can’t win,” wrote Kimberly Welsh.

“What people fail to grasp is that for a few hours of inconvenience you are kept safe, your family is safe, your loved ones can feel you are safe,” wrote Ruth Croson. “What price do you put on your life?”

So now, once and for all, tell us what you think: Did officials do the right thing by shutting down the subway, ordering evacuations and more or was this an overreaction? Tell us more in our comments section.

Sound Off: Did Officials Overreact In Preparing For Irene?

Joseph Peter Bee

I’d like to know why Nassau County exec. ignored the carefully prepared flood maps and issued a blanket ‘south of Merrick Rd’ evac. order.

I’d also like to know by what authority did he act to issue ‘mandatory’ evacuation orders.
tookie

NEVER SATISFIED NEW YORKERS- BE PREPARED AND YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO COMMENT ON WHO SAID WHAT- GOOD JOB MAYOR BLOOMBERG- BE PREPARED NEW YORKERS CAUSE THE NEXT ONE IS COMING AND MAYBE WE WONT BE SO LUCKY……..CAN YOU SAY NEW JERSEY?
MikeyLikesIt

It’s not that a mayor preparing residents for a storm is bad, it’s that Bloomberg’s handling of this storm wasn’t trustworthy. It seemed like a PR move to save face after the city’s notorious handling of the 2010 Blizzard. When I’m being told to stock up on food or leave my house, I’d like to feel that it’s out of sincere concern and NOT as a political maneuver (hey Bloomberg, where’s that F train express line you hinted at during election year?).

And if the storm had actually hit NYC, Bloomberg wouldn’t have been prepared for squat. NYC in a prolonged, post-hurricane blackout?? Please. How many people here would rate Bloomberg, MTA, and ConEd highly ON A GOOD DAY? It would’ve been a flood of excuses and finger-pointing press conferences. No thanks.

Of course, NYC avoided chaos this time due to dumb luck, and Bloomberg got what he wanted (a PR boost) – all at the expense of the rest of us who spent good money on tuna and batteries.
advance2go

The officials are not meteorologists and they were appropriate. The news media however tremendously overexposed and hyped this. It was the only story reported on hour after hour.
7-11 rocked

The city can learn from 7-11 fresh donuts hot coffee and sunday paper.They made life easier.
Peter

no
Debbie J

While I don’t count myself among the Christie fans. I will give kudos when they are deserved. I think Christie did an excellent job handling this storm. It may not have had the devastating effects that some people thought it would. But I truly believe that if we all weren’t as prepared as we were it would have been ALOT worse. Ask some of these poor people who lost everything, have damaged homes, cars, businesses if Irene wasn’t devastating. I think anyone that thinks the govenor overreacted is a few cards short of a full deck !
Jan

i recognize there’s a thin line between being proactive and getting word out, versus not saying anythinig at all, and then having it blow up in your face. Personally, the CYA motive played was more at play here than anything else, compounded by the media who saw an opportunity to boost their viewr/readership and pick up some ‘name recognition’ in huge markets.

My only concern is the whole ‘Chicken Little’ potential. Having lived along the Gulf Coast most of my life, this has always been a factor. I’ve watched as the media hyped Cat 4 hurricans that were days out, and then fizzled to barely a Tropical Storm before landfall. I’ve watched the weather experts freak out that a hurrican would innundate one large city, then get head-faked by the storm which crashes some unheard of little ‘burg’, devastating it to little care or concern from the same media.

They almost got Katrina right. Even tho it did try to “float” NOLA, the real devastation happened along rural coastal towns in Mississippi–many of who were told it was going to make landfall in NOLA up until a hour prior when the storm jinked to the northeast. Bad call–and it cost lives. But hardly picked up a by-line.

All in all, it was overhyped. Now let’s hope if the “Big One” comes, no one is jaded by this experience.
Steve

following all the weather stations and the hurricane. I knew the would not add up anything! once the mistake was made they started showing you footage of places the always flood when it just rains! the weather people blow it!
littlestar

No. However the subway should have been turned on sooner. I mean the storm was practicaly over by noon Sunday.People certianly over reacted. It was predicted as a catagory 1 with diminishing strenth. Every supermarket that I was in was packed for two days ! It was like people had not been food shopping for weeks ! There was one photo in the paper Saturday, of a line of people, twenty two, to be exact. Waiting to get into one store, only because there were already so many inside already. It was a liquore store ! ?
New Lamby

Of course they over reacted. They had to. The politicians have to justify their positions and make you feel that that life can not go on unless they are reelected

Rudy

They had too because most people need someone to tell to do the right thing. My friends who stayed behind in Long Beach were very scared. Ocean water in the garage! They are leaving with the next one.

Jay

People can easily say that the city overreacted but if one of those people got stuck on a train underground because of a flooded tunnel or a power outage I’m sure they’d be the first to complain it’s the city’s fault. I was evacuated, left and came back to my completely unscathed apartment building and even though I could’ve stayed I felt better knowing that my family knew I was safe. It could easily have gone in the other direction. Though i think the city did a good job trying to protect the people I feel the cuty’s reaction to this storm and the fact that it wasn’t as bad as expected will cause a cry wolf effect for the next one.
NYSmike

Better safe than sorry! Actually, this is the type of response that was needed during the major snowstorm last winter when both Bloomberg and Christie were out of town!
p8nt

Weather forecasting is not an exact science yet, and there’s still a lot we don’t know when it comes to predicting storms and how they interact with current weather patters, however, we have come a long long way, and weather predictions are for the most part precise. Having said that, people would be saying a different song if the predicted movements of Irene happened, or worse, if the hurricane strengthened. Its better to be over prepared, that to get caught off guard with your trousers down.
Tom

The five boroughs got very lucky due to the track of the storm. If it had been 20 miles east or west, the flooding or the winds would have been much worse.

Instead of being glad that they got lucky, some people are so self absorbed that they can’t think beyond their noses.
Eileen

No, I don’t think they overreacted. I think the mayor and the MTA did a tremendous job! And I also thank our very dear Lord for protecting all of us!
misteryman

Everyone knows better after the fact. If you can “predict” the weather better, you go get the job and do it. Just be happy you’ve got a place to go back too and your alive…. not everyone can say that.
sparverio

Considering the 24/7 hype by this station’s weather forecasters and reporters, your question is very disingenuous and is nothing more than monday morning quarter backing in an effort to shift blame to others. Proper planning prevents poor performance is the maxim.
Daniel

I’m from Houston. It’s very hard to tell how much damage will be done by these storms. The worst damage Houston has had from one of these storms was from a tropical storm that hung out too long, not a strong Hurricane. Anything less than what the city did this past weekend I would have considered tempting fate. We got lucky with this storm and there certainly would have been deaths in the low lying areas if everyone stayed and police/fire had to rescue everyone instead of just a handful of holdouts.