By the time you read this, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Ophelia might
well have come close enough to shore for some local folks to
experience its negative effects - torrential rains, a storm surge
and winds of gale force or stronger. Or it might still be offshore
awaiting direction from Mother Nature.
Either way, this storm's minimum human effect will be nerves
jangled continually for four more days, maybe longer. And if luck
abandons us, some residents this morning also could be experiencing
physical suffering of the sort that Hurricane Katrina inflicted on
Gulf Coast residents earlier this month - though, we pray, not on so
large a scale.
Every region of the country is prone to natural disasters beyond
human power to control or prevent. All of them - earthquakes, forest
fires, tornadoes, below-zero wind chill, blizzards - can be
terrifying because they can kill indiscriminately while destroying
property and disrupting lives. For us, natural disasters come as
hurricanes, the risk that comes with life in this lovely part of the
world. This morning and in the mornings ahead, some of us well may
wonder whether that risk was worth taking.
