Floods usually bring out the best in people, unlike droughts. When there’s little water, neighbors fight over it. When there’s too much, communities band together to get rid of it.

Residents team up to fill sandbags before a storm arrives. They help each other drag in patio furniture and trash cans, and lug anything valuable out of the basement. They evacuate the elderly.

And when the storm leaves, neighbors share pumps and generators, food and ice, kayaks and chain saws — and sympathy. They run extension cords around the block to provide power to those left in the dark.

For a state with a heartless reputation, New Jersey has shown amazing compassion for the lives lost and damaged by Irene. Every day since the storm, The Star-Ledger has been filled with heart-melting anecdotes.

But Irene also has brought out the worst in us:

• Scam artists who told Shore residents to evacuate early, with the hope of looting homes when the owners left.

• Strangers bearing cheerful bouquets, hoping that an elderly resident would open the door, because they could be overpowered and robbed.

• Men, posing as good Samaritans, going door-to-door, offering to help drag waterlogged furniture to the curb. Two were arrested for trying to steal an 80-year-old homeowner's coin collection in Rochelle Park, police said.

And then there are the gawkers, who have driven through the flood-ravaged neighborhoods to point and comment (loudly and callously), and snap photos. Other people’s misery has become their entertainment.

There are two explanations: They are either thoughtless or heartless. Neither is excusable.

The curiosity is understandable. The flood damage is unprecedented in some areas. But to paraphrase the governor: “Get the hell out of the flooded neighborhoods!” It’s an invasion of privacy.

While most have driven by, curious to see the water, others have parked their cars and picked through the debris at the curb. To them, the suffering is an excuse for a statewide garage sale.

One woman walked into a Bergen County yard, snapped photos of the flooding, then turned to the homeowner and gleefully exclaimed, “This is so cool!”

No, you idiot, it’s devastation.