Storm was brief, cleanup will be lengthy

If you reside within the eye of Tuesday’s storm, you saw the landscape remodeled in five minutes. The storm’s fury was simultaneously random, and precise. Winds estimated at 110 mph cracked trees into splinters, flinging debris across roads and onto homes.

If you live outside the damaged areas, life returned to normal immediately. Images from ravaged communities 20 miles away may as well be from the other side of the country.

Meanwhile, many residents in towns such as Brookfield, Newtown, Danbury and Monroe are hopeful Eversource is accurately predicting it will restore power by midday Sunday.

That seems optimistic given the damage on the ground. Snapped trees loom ominously over roads, suspended only by sagging power lines. Drivers trying to return to or from work are still navigated through horizontal stumps and shards that cropped up on local roads, squeezing through new “lanes” created by tireless workers with chainsaws attempting in vain to restore order as quickly as it was rearranged. While Brookfield was the epicenter of the macroburst, tornadoes reportedly hit Southbury, Oxford, Beacon Falls, Hamden, Winsted and Barkhamsted.

For most people, tornadoes are to storm events what sharks are to dangerous sea life. Macrobursts, however, are the great white shark of weather. This one ripped through an area that’s five miles long and less than three miles wide.

It will take considerable time before life returns to normal for many of these homeowners. Clear paths and the restoration of power are urgent next steps, but it will take months before the tons of lumber are properly removed, property damage is repaired and insurance claims are settled.

Shelves cleared of all available chainsaws at a big box store in Norwalk Wednesday represented a rare example of the storm’s reach outside the immediate areas of impact. Many were scooped up by homeowners, others by volunteers trying to pitch in to help. A few were purchased by opportunists trying to squeeze a payday from a stranger’s crisis.

Victims of the storm, which claimed two lives, have enough to worry about without adding opportunists to the list. With downed power lines snaking across lawns, driveways and roads, they need to drive with extra care, remain alert to pedestrians negotiating tight paths, and ensure children and the elderly – along with pets – are monitored. The storm is over, but no one should take chances.

The Red Cross is offering aid, but we encourage everyone to consider Connecticut neighbors who remain bruised from the storm’s heaviest blows. People still waiting for the lights to come back would welcome offers of temporary shelter, a meal, or even just an outlet to charge phones and laptops.

This week has also been a reminder that victims of other storms — notably in Puerto Rico — continue to suffer even though we don’t bear witness to their losses. The landscape of the neighborhood may have changed, but we can still strive to be the best of neighbors.

Tornadoes are to storm events what sharks are to dangerous sea life. Macrobursts, however, are the great white shark of weather.