We like to think we're tough here in New York, but I'm not ashamed to say that the thought of a hurricane coming right at us scared the wits out of me. Frankly, I don't know how folks in storm-prone areas live with this threat all the time.

What eased my nerves a bit was the discipline of risk management. Three decades of covering the insurance business certainly has left an impression. So I prepared for the worst-case scenario and hoped for the best.

Living in southern Brooklyn, not far from the beaches of Coney Island, put me on the cusp of one of New York City's coastal evacuation zones. So the first question was whether my wife and I should abandon our apartment. Residing on the sixth floor of a seven-story brick building, about a half-mile from the ocean to the south and Sheepshead Bay to the east, I felt somewhat secure from flooding.