Retrospective: Hurricane Irene One Year Later

It's been exactly one year since Hurricane Irene landed on Long Island. Though it was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it arrived, everyone braced for the worst.

Long Islanders tuned into every Patch update up the East Coast from the Caribbean Sea where it inflicted its most terrible wrath on the Bahamas, peaking as a 120 mph Category 3 hurricane.

As the storm neared Long Island on Aug. 27, residents for disaster supplies, business-owners boarded up store windows, municipalities rushed to get the word out about evacuation plans, and by. Some people even found occasion to .

Asharoken Mayor Patricia Irving after Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Aug. 26 and hoped that the . The said it was "preparing for the worst" and put all personnel at the ready.

Irene was considerate enough to do most of her dirty work in the middle of the night between Saturday Aug. 27 and Aug. 28. Driving rains and winds up to 70 miles an hour caused --mostly from downed trees, downed power lines, and flooding--though no deaths were reported in the area. Northport was without power for three days, some houses in the area for up to five days.

You can see photos from the damage and some spectacular shots of giant waves crashing against the Asharoken sea wall and flooding at the Northport Dock in the gallery below. For the full gallery, click .

Village Trustee Tom Kehoe credited the Northport , , and Departments for their hard work preparing for and responding to the storm.

"I think we were very prepared for last year and have three departments that are always ready and at the top of their game at all times," Kehoe said.

Kehoe added that dead tree removal is one of the most important parts of storm damage prevention.

"There is a constant plan that the highway foreman has in place where they are constantly trimming and removing dead trees," he said. "We're constantly working with utility companies, and homeowners to do the same because they can create a problem with power lines."

Hurricane Irene was the first time the Town of Huntington contacted East Northport, Elwood, Eaton's Neck and Asharoken residents through their “robocall” emergency notification telephone message system.

"As a result of that experience," said Town Spokesperon AJ Carter, "the Town came to appreciate the benefit of the system and, as we used it throughout the year, the limitations of our vendor. As a result, the Town Board voted to switch vendors (beginning next week) to one we believe will allow us to contact residents more effectively."

Though the area weathered the Irene well, the storm was much weaker than expected. The 2012 hurricane season has just begun. Would you be prepared for another? Do you think that government agencies and utilities are prepared? What did you learn from Tropical Storm Irene?

Tell us in the comment section below.