Where is Pat Robertson?

I’m ashamed now to admit I was among those who scoffed at the sky-is-falling mentality displayed as Hurricane Irene, by then down-graded to a Category 1 storm, moved north of North Carolina.

Honestly, I was recalling past tropical storms and Cat 1 storms we’ve encountered in south Louisiana. Excluding the threat of tornadoes, we’ve had stronger winds and harder downpours among our recent spate of afternoon showers.

Given that Irene had her mind made up, she was U.S. bound, my prayer was just that she’d show us mercy. There are still people along the coast recovering from the Gustav/Ike and Katrina/Rita tandems in years past.

What no one could have predicted is the punch Irene’s wrath delivered as she continued to travel north.

More than 25 people were reported dead as of press time. Rescue workers predicted that number could rise as her effects continued to be felt earlier this week.

The devastation will likely cost more than $7 billion in disaster relief, according to the Federal Emergency Administration Agency. But that figure could rise significantly as waterways continue to overtop their banks and flood rain-saturated areas, only adding to the flood problems.

Last week, if asked, most of us would have said we’d just hope the upper East Coast would gain understanding from Irene. Understanding of what we go through every year during hurricane season. The worry that a storm might develop off the African shores. The concern that we have sufficiently planned, pre-stocked our homes with food, batteries, fresh water and other necessities to ride out a hurricane. And understanding of the uncertainty as we watch the image on the radar screen grow larger as it nears.

Where will it hit? Have we done enough to prepare? Should we have evacuated? Will my home survive?

Irene will be Vermont’s Katrina for generations to come. Luckily for Vermont, Irene wasn’t Katrina. In fact, luckily for most of the East Coast, Irene wasn’t remotely like Katrina.

She moved up the coast a Category 3, and went ashore a Category 1. Watching the scenes Monday of floodwaters wash away roads and bridges and overtake homes and businesses, I couldn’t help but wonder what a Category 3 or higher storm may have done to Washington, D.C., New York, New Jersey or Vermont.

Familiar are the Monday morning cries about overkill, especially in the New York area. So too is the second-guessing of mandatory evacuations.

It’s hard to imagine understanding coming in the short haul.

But, hopefully, when the water levels come down and cooler heads prevail, the upper reaches of America’s northeastern coast will, for however fleeting a moment, come to understand that Mother Nature can trump where you live, how much money you have or how well prepared you believe yourself to be anytime she chooses. And when she does, communities need the help of the entire country to recover and rebuild.

Who knows what lessons were learned or if our plight is better understood. Bottom line is, thanks be to God Irene wasn’t any angrier. After recent floods, an earthquake and a hurricane, the East Coast has had its fair share of weather-related problems. Past experience tells Louisianans the only thing left is Pat Robertson showing up saying the people along the East Coast asked for it by angering God for their behavior. We’ll keep it between us for now. They’ve got enough to deal with and hurricane season’s peak is still another week or two away.