All through Hurricane Irene, as well as the hours before and after, area officials hatched emergency plans, pulled on their rain gear and spoke to the people. "They want to show people that they're like them and that they're not in their Ivory Tower with their suit on," said Sarah Bass, an associate professor of public health at Temple. Bass dismissed suggestions that the hurricane was over-hyped. "All you have to do is look at is Katrina to see what's going to happen if we don't talk about it beforehand and consistently and try to really say, 'This is a significant event that could cause mass destruction and death.'"