Hurricane Irene barely hits New York?

A Hurricane must have a power base to cause supreme destruction. Wind and warm water (we're lucky the pacific runs cold!) are the two essential parts of a hurricane. There have been many, many hurricanes to pass by the east coast, although few have actually hit and devastated the east coast in the last 15 years. Hurricane Irene was projected to match the chaos of Hurricane Katrina by most weather channels, and some parts of the east coast like New York and New Jersey evacuated altogether. For the first time ever, the Subway's (trains that run under the city) were shut down and of course there were no taxi's. Everyone was expecting New York to be hit the hardest, but some New Yorkers expressed that Hurricane Irene was Disappointing. There are even Youtube videos taken while the Hurricane was happening, and people are running around having a good time in the rain. (click the link...here! :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaceMZIqF3I) Hurricane Katrina DID however, flood Vermont and other places where the hurricane still had a lot of power and caused actual damage. The media should have been spending time making the appropriate warning to EVERYONE on the east coast, not just spending a specific amount of time and energy protecting New York and its surroundings.