It's more a matter of location. Florida, while it regularly gets hurricanes significantly stronger than Irene was, has building codes and regulations that understand their vulnerability to hurricanes and try to account for that. Many of the more northern east coast states don't have those rules because hurricanes going on this path are very rare. There's also the absurd size of this thing, with an area that is almost twice the size of the United Kingdom, to give you some perspective. Even hundreds of miles away from the weakened storm's center here in DC, there are several trees downed in my neighborhood and small twigs and leaves quite common. Fortunately, Irene ended up weaker than expected and most areas came out okay, but it easily could have been infinitely worse.Really guys, it's a Cat 1, Florida considers this a light breeze in comparison to the Cat 3-4s they get yearly. Anyone worrying about family, don't panic they'll be fine. Most of the 'damage' is minimal from Irene.
Cue said:Mother's life stuff
It's kinda like what would happen if there was a strong Blizzard in Florida. I suspect a lot of roofs would collapse and there would be horrific damage because people just don't plan for such an unlikely scenario and build their buildings with the heavy weight of snow in mind.