Headlines for severe weather have seem to become a part of everyday life- a report goes out that we’re in for a massive and destructive storm, but then all that hits us it rain. Although some do listen to the meteorologists and head for the stores to stock up on their non-perishables and candles, many ignore the threats and just hope that the storm will pass, as many do, just like a normal storm. This is a major problem. What is going to happen when there really is a credible threat? This is exactly what happened with Sandy. Many people on eastern Long Island and even some on the south shore were told they had to evacuate their homes because of rising water levels, but some did not listen. Long Island was only one of the many communities that did not listen. Even after being told for weeks to prepare and stock up for the storm, the days following Sandy were still mayhem. People had to wait hours on lines that went around the block to get gasoline. Even the supermarket shelves were empty. All in all, 72 American lives were lost because of the simple problem of not being prepared. We hear stories of people’s lives being changed forever after everything they have is destroyed, but we never think it’d happen to us. The critical problem at hand: how do we decipher a credible threat from a real one?