There’s nothing like an unexpected act of nature to illustrate the flaws in our systems and just where emergency planning can fall short sometimes of dealing with the real thing.

The rain and wind storm that kicked up Tuesday night and Wednesday morning shook more than just the trees. It shook confidence in the reliability and safety of systems and institutions.

Power supplies failed all over the county as trees downed lines, which is to be expected in a severe storm. Schools and emergency care providers prepare for these situations, mainly with generators. The hospital’s generator failed and two schools had new generators that were slow to be started as it was the first time they had been used. Fortunately, hospitals also prepare for possible generator failures with measures like battery packs for essential equipment. But the storm certainly led to questioning how prepared we really are for an emergency weather event. In another stroke of good luck, no one was seriously injured in the storm, because the hospital was diverting trauma cases due to the outage. Whatever the reason the hospital’s generator capability failed, Wednesday made it obvious we need better ways to test it.

Another concerning area for officials and citizens was the school buses that began to run routes in the middle of the downpour and whipping winds. Sure, it is hard to call off the running of the buses once that engine cranks up. But we live in an era of instant communication. If snow storms that melt off before the phone tree quits ringing haven’t been enough of a hint, we need a way to speed up reaction time to weather changes and the adjustment of school schedules. It could be using the bus radios to park buses until the weather can be assessed and the school district’s auto-dialer and local media outlets to park students too, or some other idea. There were a couple of buses stranded by downed trees in the county. No students or drivers were hit or hurt--again, a lucky break.

We have wonderful workers, including emergency care providers, law enforcement, utility and public works staff and school folks, and they were out once again in force Wednesday morning clearing roads, helping people and just generally sorting it all out. They deserve reliable, modern systems and equipment during these events—as do we all.