This is a discussion where an agreed upon point of reference matters. Was Irma overhyped as a Cat 5 just south of Florida? No. Was it overhyped as a Cat 3 making landfall in SW Florida? Yes, to some extent at that point as news crews tried to make the winds into something insane in Miami. But that also misses the larger point that other posters have missed. Once a weaker Irma approached Florida, the main threat was no longer wind. It was flooding. Flooding does not make for spectacular live TV blowing on-screen personalities down the street. It instead is a slow, creeping process that is the primary catalyst for storm damage, in 90 percent of hurricane-related damage. Jacksonville had record flooding from Irma, in mere tropical storm winds, hundreds of miles away from landfall, due to the dynamics of the storm and that section of coastline. Heck, Alison was a minimal tropical storm that caused 9 billion in damage. And that is the point. Irma could well exceed Andrew's damage, given it was a flooding event over a much larger area. And no hurricane wind building codes can stop floodwaters. I guess to some posters, a home destroyed by wind is somehow more destroyed than a storm by flooding. To the flooding victims, they couldn't give a rat's ass. All they see are sodden furniture, soggy drywall and an long-running fight against mold.
And regarding claims that Irma is hyped to make AGW claims? The hype morons do that for all weather, so that claim is pointless and counterproductive.
Flooding and hurricanes tend to go hand in hand on this part of the Atlantic coast at least, so I can’t say as I agree with your assessment that anyone was discounting that likelihood. Slow moving storms are worse, but some extent of flooding is associated with them all.
all the cautions were well intended and probably saved a bunch of lives...
I'm glad there were so many warnings...
the coverage was a great teaching tool for all of us....how to be prepared for one...
God bless all our freepers and their families and friends caught in Irma or in Houston....and all others as well...