The gale-force wind that seemingly would never stop arrived Friday, continued fitfully through Monday, and caused days of problems for residents, businesses, and most of all, for those who repair the damage.

We cannot praise highly enough the rapid response of power line repair personnel, who went on the job early Friday and stayed there for days. Some outages were quickly repaired, others lasted days. In the meantime, residents without power shivered, or went to stay somewhere else.

From watching the news of this powerful storm, we know how much other places suffered. As it progressed up the Atlantic coast, the winds developed into a powerful northeaster. There were hurricane-force winds on Long Island, flooding in Boston’s streets, heavy snow inland, and even, on the back side of the storm, flooding in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Two deaths in Virginia were caused by falling trees. Somehow we missed the worst of it in Gloucester and Mathews.

It was bad enough, but loo...