I totally lucked out re Irene. I lent my place to friends who were under mandatory evacuation and spent the storm at The GC's. The weather was a little scary from about 4 AM to 7 AM on Sunday (horizontal heavy rain pelting the windows, trees and tree branches being whipped about in an alarming fashion, a lot of lightning), but other than that, it was mostly a heavy rainstorm punctuated by big gusts of wind. We never lost power, and even though the entire yard was transformed into a foot-deep pond for a time, the basement miraculously stayed dry. We didn't lose any big trees, and my tomato plants might even make it! The damage seems to be limited to just a tangled mess of small limbs and leaves that will need to be cleaned up once everything dries out. Not so lucky were The GC's friends, who had three feet of water in their basement, and lost all manner of stuff they'd stored there. We spent part of yesterday trying to help them sort it all out.
There are a lot of other people up and down the eastern seaboard who fared -- and continue to fare -- far worse. As I said, we lucked out, and for that I am grateful.