I don't think that's a fair statement. Lots of folks did not expect the flooding to the extent that it did. Areas like Brooklyn and Queens and many parts of LI were not evacuated in advance and those folks lost their cars if their particular areas were hit. If you noticed, the Jersey shore did not have so many waterlogged cars because folks there were expecting it. Also, in the NYC area, some folks moved their cars to parking garages only to have them washed away there too.
Storm surge was greater than expected or predicted. One extra foot of water can cover a lot of land if it’s flat and near sea level.
I don’t get what’s with people who sit back from a distance and expect everyone to be able to predict exactly what is going to happen, when, where, and how and act accordingly.
I do notice that those doing the most criticizing AREN’T posting FROM the hard hit area.