Hurricane Irene

I have heard a lot about Hurricane Irene in the news lately, but I live in the midwest and have no idea what it is actually like. If any of you live near the impact zone would you mind describing it for me?

well I live near DC (give or take a few states :p), and the rain and the winds were enough to knock trees down, and cause electrical problems our crappy energy company is still fixing. But on the actual night it wasn't very scary. The lightning was pretty cool though.