EDITORIAL: Rising from devastation

When times are at their worst, people are at their best.

That was exemplified again Monday night and Tuesday as public employees and Albany area residents started what likely will be a long recovery process from a series of devastating thunderstorms that rolled through Southwest Georgia, knocking down pines and oaks, destroying property and causing the death of one woman who apparently succumbed to smoke inhalation when a candle she was using for light set her residence on fire.

It was not the way we hoped to see the new year begin.

At this writing, there was suspicion that the storm front that barreled through from the west spawned off tornadoes, though National Weather Service officials Tuesday were surveying the storm path to determine whether the destruction was caused by twisters or powerful straight line winds associated with the storms.

Whatever the cause, the results were devastating for many families and organizations. A number of houses had roof damage from fallen trees, and quite a few vehicles were damaged or destroyed by falling trees. Power outages were still in effect in many parts of the area, though some who lost electricity had it restored. Emergency vehicles had to be rerouted to reach the hospital during the night, and traffic was snarled in many parts of the city Tuesday as whole neighborhoods were blocked from access because of fallen trees.

But as we said, when times are trying, people tend to step up to the challenge. When destruction like this hits, we look past race, political affiliation, religion and socioeconomics. Faced with a force as powerful as nature unleashed overnight, differences melt away and a spirit of getting through this together is reborn. We’ve seen it before, most notably during the 1994 and 1998 floods that divided the city and county in two while simultaneously bringing the citizens of Albany and Dougherty County together.

On Tuesday, we heard stories of caring and sharing, from area businesses bring coffee and doughnuts to workers to a homeowner with a generator allowing a neighbor to run a power cord. Some were big feats, others small things, but they all add up to a community coming together to help its own.

And while none of this will be cleaned up as quickly as anyone would like and normalcy won’t return for some time, we applaud those who, often risking their own safety, got out in the night and then during the day to try to make lives whole again. Public works employees, utility workers, public safety officials and the others were all out doing their jobs — work that is too often overlooked except in a time of crisis.

Like we said, this was not the way we hoped 2017 would start. But it is good to know that when the chips are down, good people will answer the challenge.