While Hurricane Sandy didn't ravage Northern Berkshire with the same ferocity that was expected, we would like to caution the people who, as early as Monday night, were saying that area officials overreacted with their preparations: This could have been much worse.
While many people suffered property damage and put up with power outages, Sandy fell short on anticipated impact, and life in North County appeared to be back to normal for most as of Tuesday.
However, one need only look to the actual death and destruction in neighboring states to see that if this storm had tracked differently, all the preparations of our local officials could have been put to the test in a very serious way.
One of the marvels of modern science is that we have the ability to at least be aware of the approach of dangerous weather, even if we can't predict the exact path and result of a weather system. It allows a community to prepare for the worst -- a direct hit -- and hope for the best -- a wide miss. To do anything less would be recklessness on the part of our municipalities. With Tropical Storm Irene still fresh in mind, how can anyone be accused of over-preparing?
Our thanks and congratulations to all the North County officials and employees who executed their best efforts to make sure emergency responders and residents were ready for the calamities of this storm. The residents who were affected were no doubt thankful for the organized
We hope the fact the Berkshires were visited by two tropical storm systems in just over a year is not a harbinger of a pattern to come. Hurricanes and tropical storms are not strangers in New England, but having two come in back-to-back seasons is alarming. This is especially so when one considers that freak weather patterns becoming the norm has long since been pointed to as an expected result of global warming.
If it does become the pattern, we're confident that the same teams will do great work again for the safety of the residents of North Berkshire.
May everyone continue to be disappointed by the outcomes of these storms.
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