If Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel shows up in your home town, it is the Apocalypse
Also, the media will over-hype the storm. Not to downplay the excellent advise from Papa Joe, but the media likes to look for the bad in everything. As we have already witnessed, Irene was mostly all bark and very little bite. 9 out of 10 times, this is the case with these storms. Once Irene got north of Georgia, it was nothing more than a summer time Nor'Easter-- something most folk on the Atlantic are well aware of.