"I blame this all the on the New York Times," I told my brother at lunch yesterday.
"They just published an article the day before the storm that talked about how lucky we are to live in the Great Lakes region because we're spared the catastrophes that other parts of the country have to suffer through.
"Well," he pointed out, "we don't experience hurricanes, tsunamis, big earthquakes and wildfires."
Point taken. We did get a tornado the other night, but no one was killed, and I suppose getting water in your basement, while nasty and destructive to one's property, hardly qualifies as a life-threatening event.
Still, you want to blame someone, right? Facebook was rife with those who called out Mother Nature for flooding and power outages. Who could blame Her if she's pissed for the way we've treated her? On the other hand, I find it highly unlikely that she pointed at us and said, "I must smite those folks. I'll send some torrential rains to overload their sump pumps and ruin their rec rooms."
One community pointed the finger at local government, which has failed to resolve sewer issues in spite of repeated flooding. There's a little more logic to that finger-pointing, which brings up an issue that's been a continual thorn in the side for officials.
Admittedly, I did feel bad for the church that had its roof taken off by a tornado. They seem like good people, I hope they get it sorted out quickly. Also, those whose cars were smashed when a parking garage collapsed. And the folks who were up to their knees in water and wondering how much it will cost to fix the damage to their homes.
We were fortunate that we only got an inch or so of water under the porch in the corner of the basement. Sure, it was a pain to dry it out, but the shop vac ultimately did the trick, and it was dry by morning, so I'm not complaining. (Well, not unduly, anyhow, except I'm writing a blog article about it, so maybe I am a little bit.)
At the end of the day, it's all relative. I think about the people in Hawaii, floating in the ocean and watching their world burn.
Compared to that, managing the aftermath of thunderstorms doesn't feel so bad.
Photo: Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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