VIDEO: How New York Experienced Irene

As we've been hearing all morning from government officials, Irene had the potential to be a devastating tropical cyclone. No doubt it did damage and it was certainly deadly, but this map from the National Hurricane Center gives you an idea of the wrath that stayed off shore. It also tells you that the Outer Banks of North Carolina were the hardest hit:

With that in mind, the AP has put together a series of videos that give you an idea of the kind of storm this was.

Here's the most dramatic of the series, showing the storm search washing away a lifeguard house in Long Island:

This one shows flooding in lower Manhattan:

This one was taken in middle of the storm, in the middle of Times Square, where obviously people refused to let Irene disrupt their fun:

And this one is an interesting look at a desolate Manhattan. A rare sight:

Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.