The weakening of Irene from a Category 3 hurricane to a tropical storm resulted in less damage in New York City (NYC) than initially was anticipated. It is widely recognized that the storm surge and associated flooding could have been much more severe. In a recent study. we showed that a direct hit to the city from a hurricane may expose an enormous number of people to flooding. https://www.roneverhart.com/Donitsirauta-MDI-Donut-900/