Hurricane Irene and the Aftermath

Hurricane Irene made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, then made its way up the East Coast, with typical destructive force. Above, an uprooted tree on New York City's East 17th Street, also uprooted the tree's surrounding brick wall.

Everyone in the storm's pathway either evacuated or locked down in preparation, except for those young, naive TV weather reporters whose colleagues hate them such that "if you cover Irene from the Outer Banks, it'll mean a big promotion..."

A couple watch as the FDNY cut up a fallen tree on West 4th Street. This storm came up the east coast with massive destructive force, but not in the most-expected, through high winds. Instead, the heavy rainfall and flooding that followed did most damage, even in states like Vermont which would not normally be in the path of a hurricane.

Another broken branch on another damned bicycle.

Pete's Tavern in Gramercy: clearly in the anti-Irene camp.

A fallen tree branch neatly cocoons a car on East 17th Street...