Strange weather, eh?

Certainly has been a strange and often hard weather year around here. A snowstorm in late October 2011 proved to be the worst of a winter that turned surprisingly mild. Then came that “derecho” in June that caught many people off-guard and left some without electricity for nearly two weeks. That one succeeded in putting everyone on edge with every summer storm. Then came the Berkeley Springs flooding on Labor Day Weekend.

And, now, Hurricane Sandy.

All day Monday, you could feel the tension and uncertainty. Everyone knew a major storm was in the works, but no one was sure just how horrendous it would be.

People could only wonder: Would they be without power in a few hours? Would the rivers flood? How much damage was about to happen?

Luckily for us, Hurricane Sandy came ashore to the northeast in central New Jersey, but our area was still
within its wide swath. Rain began Sunday night and became heavy at times on Monday. The National Weather Service predicted five to eight inches from Monday afternoon through Tuesday, but in most places it wasn’t that bad.

Power outages were the major problem when the sun came up on Tuesday morning. The danger of some flooding in the days ahead remained.

This time, at least, there was plenty of warning, along with a constant flow of information from the National Weather Service and local emergency services personnel. Schools were closed so students and staff weren’t caught in bad situations.

The rain had barely picked up Monday morning before an emergency situation was declared. Town officials were no doubt mindful of the September 1 flooding caused by the rainy remnants of an earlier hurricane.
An emergency county meeting was called for Monday afternoon so that everyone was ready and knew their parts. That’s how it’s supposed to work.

We hope you weathered the storm alright.