Classic Rant #568 (August 26, 2011): Hello, Irene (Part 2)

As much as I dislike writing about this thing again, I guess I must, because there really isn't much else going on in my neck of the woods.

Gov. Cuomo has declared a state of emergency in New York, and people who live in areas near the water are starting to be herded out of their homes to safer ground.

Many events have been cancelled, postponed, or moved to a different time. The Jets vs. Giants preseason football game, originally scheduled for 7 p.m., has been moved up to 2 p.m. The Yankees games in Baltimore over the weekend are threatened, although the Orioles have refused to play a doubleheader to get them all in. The Mets games vs. the Braves at CitiField have not been moved, at least not just yet.

People are buying up things in the stores as if we will be meeting Armageddon on late Saturday and into Sunday. I am sure that the supermarket chains here are reeling in millions of dollars during this panic period.

People are worried that cell phone service will be disrupted during the storm, and I have one word to say to them:

GOOD!

Saturday appears to be fine until the evening. Sunday appears to be a total washout.

But from what I understand, that will be it.

Of course, if it gets near land--and even if it doesn't--there will have to be some cleanup, but it will take place on a sunny Monday.

Again, I am talking about New York. I am not talking about North Carolina, which should get hit pretty good by this hurricane.

But I am several hundred miles away from where the hurricane will hit the hardest. I was in that area driving home from my vacation with my family just a few weeks ago, and I can tell you, when it rains down there, it really rains. We drove through some of the worst rain I have ever seen when we were down there, and I can only imagine that a hurricane will go beyond that 100-fold.

But where I am, it will be lots of wind and rain, but that is about it.

I hope.