A big storm’s aftermath

Here’s hoping the sun is shining as you read this. That was not the case last weekend, when Irene paid the Northwest Corner a visit. While some were relatively unscathed by the heavy rains and gusting winds of the storm, many others in the region were flooded out, lost trees and/or lost power. On Sunday, Aug. 28, just about all of Cornwall and more than half of Sharon were without power. The Housatonic River reached flood stage that morning, and kept rising, and many of the river’s tributaries overran their banks as well. You’ll see coverage of the storm damage in this paper and online at www.tricornernews.com.Music Mountain postponed a concert for the first time ever, but most events that were to have happened on Sunday were simply canceled. Cleanup teams, from state troopers to firefighters to volunteers to town crews, were probably just as glad about this. It gave them the ability to get out on the roads without having to work around too many trapped or stalled vehicles. Keeping the roads as clear as possible also helped emergency workers who were on call to help anyone in need. CL&P, which sent out a recorded message to customers to reassure them before the storm, and the state Department of Transportation (DOT) have had a lot of other more populated areas to worry about before restoring the Northwest Corner. It’s a good thing others were willing to help right after the storm to at least clear roads.Plenty of Northwest Corner residents will still be pumping out basements and other high water and cleaning up trees and limbs for a while. Some will also be assessing property damage from those fallen trees and from the flooding. The best part of a crisis such as this storm, or perhaps the only good thing about it, is the immediate and spontaneous cooperation that happens here. Neighbors and strangers help one another and the most frequent closing comment for conversations as the storm approached was, “Stay safe.”We hope our neighbors, our readers, have stayed safe, and that the recovery from the storm is relatively quick and not too difficult or costly for the Northwest Corner communities and the region.