Nature hit hard, but got no 10-count

Nature hit us hard with a variety of vicious blows.

Last week, rain came down inch after agonizing inch, flooding streets, homes and businesses. A tornado touched down briefly between Wheaton and Winfield. Severe thunderstorms unleashed winds at speeds we travel on wide-open highways, toppling trees and ripping power lines free from utility poles. Electricity has just been restored in some homes.

One of those downed tree limbs hit a golfer at Medinah Country Club. Tragically, 67-year-old Rick Snellings of Bradenton, Fla., suffered a fatal head injury.

Forty people were injured in a partial roof collapse at a West Chicago business.

Yet, for many county residents, it could have been even worse.

Many more homes could have been under water if all that rain had had no place to go except into everyone's basements. But a multimillion-dollar county flood-control program launched after the devastating flood of 1987 no doubt worked to divert much of that water into the county's storm water reservoir system.

True, the flood-control system wasn't tested by 13 inches of rain that fell in just a few hours, which was the case in 1987. Or the 17 inches of rain that fell in 24 hours in 1996, causing millions of dollars of damage in Naperville and Lisle.

But the system did help keep many parts of the county from being inundated by flooding from last week's steady and very heavy rains.

What has helped, too, is the DuPage County Forest Preserve District's aggressive land-buying program. It has kept thousands of acres of open space from being developed, allowing the land to do its job as a natural sponge.

It was good government policy at work. Still, there was enough flooding from last week's storms to force examination of where flood control needs to be improved.

It is fortunate, too, that the tornado did not stay on the ground longer, winding its way through highly residential areas. We were spared from the very worst damage these funnels can do. But this brief encounter with a tornado should serve as a reminder to take tornado warnings and tornado drills seriously.

And Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 and Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 are wise to evaluate their severe storm emergency procedures. Some schools in these districts dismissed some students just before the height of Thursday's storm, believing it was safe for them to go home. Such a potentially risky situation has to be avoided in the future.

Yes, nature showed us its worst side. But it also brought out our best side. Police officers, firefighters, government officials and public works and transportation employees, ComEd workers and citizens worked hard and long to clean up the mess the storms left in their wake.

Nature annoyed us. And frightened us. But it didn't defeat us.