Another element of the hurricane hype is simply a product of the social media/instant news generation.
For instance, the Irma vs. Andrew meme from the last page, while interesting to look at, is a very misleading comparison considering Andrew was a fairly small storm in diameter.
Most people who don't live in the Southeast probably don't remember Floyd -- because it didn't do much. That's not to say Irma isn't a big, strong storm, but these are the kind of retarded comparisons people make to try and portray Irma as some kind of world-ending hurricane of never-before-seen proportions.
For comparison, here's Hugo:
And Sandy:
Of course, it doesn't look nearly as cool to compare Irma to other large (in diameter) storms, and it also doesn't fuel the "hurricanes keep getting bigger!!!!!" narrative.
P.S. To be clear, I hope our Florida members are staying safe, I just find the hype surrounding these hurricanes to be blown out of proportion to what they really are.