"I just turned off the news," she said. "It's too much."

Some have resigned themselves to the fact that Mother Nature is in charge -- and that, whatever they do, it won't stop the wind, rain or storm surges.

"The most stressful thing is to stand in your house, watch the water come up, and there's nothing you can do," Norfolk, Virginia, resident Bill Sawyer told CNN affiliate WVEC.

"It's going to keep coming. And then you're stuck, because now you can't get out of your house."