Storm response reveals community spirit
All a person has to do is read or watch the news and something bad is bound to happen.
For the longest time after a hurricane would bear down on Florida or a tornado would wipe out parts of Oklahoma, I would find myself saying: “I will take our natural disasters over (insert faraway location and combine with plagues of locust, etc.) anytime.”
All a person has to do is talk about the winter of 1996-'97 to talk about the worst winter disaster most can remember here.
What a week we had! Gotta be tops as far as summer disasters go, to be sure.
Many oldtimers have told me they have never seen a series of storms like the ones that put us in their crosshairs Saturday night and last week.
In fact much of the county hadn’t recovered from the first surprise windstorm when Saturday night’s freight train came roaring in.
Thank God nobody was killed.
The photos of trees on top of homes, cars and boats will never do these events justice.
What will survive — and what should survive — is how fast neighbors and friends came out to make sure everyone was OK.
“Mighty roared the chainsaw,” said Dr. Kemp, when he called the Bee Monday morning.
As darkness fell in and around Bonner County Saturday night, some chainsaws were whirring and could be heard for miles because the power being off.
On Sunday morning, families and friends gathered to take stock and to compare stories. They also descended on homes that needed attention.
I was on North Kootenai Road Sunday morning and an old friend of mine pulled up next to me in his pickup. In the back was a 4-wheeler, chainsaw and rope — a North Idaho after-the-storm survival kit if there ever was one.
“Know anyone who needs help?” he asked. He shared he had already been at Ponderpoint most of the morning. He was working his way through Kootenai. Just like that … he was off to help.
Time and time again as I made my way through the area, I kept hearing how this neighbor helped that neighbor.
Another friend, Brad Mitton, shared with me how a big chunk of tree swung wildly near his Ponderay home before landing in the street next to his home.
Almost instantly people started appearing to move the huge branch off the road. More and more people showed up and a group of folks started clearing the impassable Highway 200 before the state highway department crews could get to it.
Believe it or not, even after the past week’s huge windstorms, I am more convinced than ever that I will take our North Idaho natural disasters over other parts of the country anytime — as long as friends and neighbors here continue to look out for each other.
Kudos, also, to the emergency crews who responded so quickly and professionally.
• David Keyes is the Daily Bee publisher.