Well...
We learned that people are STILL dumb*sses and wait until the last minute to do hurricane preps.
We learned that people are STILL dumb*sses and buy frozen/refrigerated bulk goods for hurricane preps.
We learned that people are STILL dumb*sses and don't think to have a basic store of non-perishable food stuffs and water even though they live in a hurricane zone.
We learned that people are STILL dumb*sses and don't evacuate when Mother Nature comes stomping through.
We learned that people are STILL dumb*sses and loot at every opportunity.
We learned that politicians are STILL dumb*sses and will use the opportunity to violate our rights.
And in the coming weeks and months:
We'll learn that people are STILL dumb*sses and will fall for every scam in the books during reconstruction.
There's a pattern here, but I can't quite put my finger on it...
Indeed. The biggest thing I learned was that the whole "three days of supplies in the pantry," as well as the notion that there's about 72 hours worth of opportunity to buy stuff if "the trucks stop running" is terribly optimistic (coincidentally, there will likely be plenty of vegan trash food available for a couple days, as that section never looked less than fully stocked) for the vast majority of our countrymen.
We are already a disaster conscious family, but when I found cases of water at normal prices still available days in advance, I picked some up (as did the wife) just to continue to build margin. Even 2 or 3 days before it was supposed to be here, it was amazing to hear folks who had no idea why "water is the most popular item we sell right now."
Two, the Setlzer water aisle was fully stocked at every store I went to before, during and after the non-event. If you have procrastinating semi-adult children at college who don't pay you any mind and wait until all the regular water is gone, buy seltzer water and let it go flat. Doesn't taste great, but it will keep you alive and hydrated (learned that as a scout when I chose water for a camping trip poorly).
Another thing completely untouched - camping fuel cannisters for camping stoves. They're cheap, easy to use AND in addition to camping stoves, the Coleman Travel/Tailgating grills use them - which gives you another cooking option that you can take with you if you need to evacuate. The bins of those were full as hell and at normal prices.
Lastly, even though the storm largely left the region alone, it did bring considerably cooler weather than we're typically blessed with in September. Had power failed for quite some time and that cool weather stayed in place, we would have had to break out some quilts that normally aren't out until late October or early November as the house slowly started to equalize towards ambient temperature. So while we don't have any kerosene heaters or the like, might be worth having to augment the gas logs in the fireplace (I wanted a regular fireplace for Shit like this, wife said asthma and kids, we met in the middle).