Much work to do; many stories to tell

Suburban residents have seen their share of violent storms and serious flooding over the years, but it has been a while since Mother Nature delivered the kind of one-two punch that has had many residents talking of little else for the past five days.

Persistent rainfall earlier last week already had rivers rising ominously, but no one was braced for the ferocity of Thursday's storms, some of which produced tree and structural damage almost incomprehensible for straight-line winds.

As timing would have it, the worst of the storms hit just as the school day was ending in some districts. Credit for quick and decisive action must go to the many school officials who kept their cool and kept students indoors and under protection.

When the wave of storms finally passed and flashlights and candles had been dug out of storage, residents emerged from darkened homes to find stunning scenes of splintered and even uprooted trees blocking streets and lying askew on lawns, roofs and sagging power lines.

Back inside their homes, residents began to deal with thawing food and waterlogged basements. As the Daily Herald's Burt Constable noted in his column Saturday, these woes brought out the neighborliness in many folks. On many residential blocks, homes on one side of the street had electricity while those across the street did not. Dozens of extension cords stretched across those streets as symbols of generosity, as those who had power shared with those who did not.

For folks who had no access to electricity at all, the novelty of candles and flashlights wore off as Day One wore into Days Two and Three. Many residents were impatient with the pace of ComEd's progress. Maybe the utility could have done more, but this was a power outage of immense proportions. Anyone who watched the utility's crews at work could appreciate that they were performing their difficult and hazardous tasks as quickly and professionally as they could.

Even as circumstances are well on their way to returning to normal for many suburban residents, piles of tangled branches and stacks of discarded carpets -- along with sofas, speakers and ruined personal mementos -- line the streets in testament to all the hard and unpleasant work suburban residents did during the weekend.

Thousands of residents still face red tape and forms as they file and follow up on damage and insurance claims. Virtually all of us are left with stories to tell for years to come about the storms and flooding of '07 and with a reminder that it's nearly impossible to be too proactive when it comes to equipping our homes and businesses with emergency plans and supplies.