Local residents left in the dark for several days following last Wednesday’s spring snowstorm hopefully are more prepared should this happen again.
While most municipalities in the area were without power for 12 hours or so, a number of rural residents waited into the weekend to have their power restored.
The storm knocked out about 400 poles and 200 power lines across the region, which resulted in crews being brought in from around the province to restore power.
Crews worked long hours often into the middle of the night trying to bring power back on as quickly as possible.
Local residents scrambled to buy generators and batteries in order to make it through the power outage.
It is just fortunate the outage took place in the spring when temperatures were not so low that residents were in danger of freezing in their own homes.
While warm spring temperatures resulted in heavy, wet snow which created the havoc on power lines, the warmer temperatures did make it possible for most residents to remain in their homes until power was restored.
For those who were prepared it was probably more of a nuisance than a dangerous situation.
For those who were not prepared, hopefully the storm and the resulting power outage served as a wake-up call.
Throughout the world natural disasters have been taking their toll this year while in this part of the globe, for the most part, residents have been able to distance themselves from the turmoil.
It is not likely southern Alberta will be hit by an earthquake and with the Rocky Mountains between us and the nearest coastline, there certainly is no threat of a tsunami or hurricane.
Our province has been hit by a couple of tornadoes and they still remain a possibility but not to the extent the threat exists in the southern United States.
With our position on the map it is easy to forget there are natural disasters common to our region such as flooding, grass fires and snow storms that can pose extended threats.
Both the federal and provincial government, along with other public and private organizations, have been encouraging people to be prepared in the case of an emergency such as loss of power.
Even with these warnings, some people were still left scrambling when everything went dark on Wednesday.
It only takes a little time and planning to prepare for emergencies but the effort will be well worth it the next time the region is plunged into darkness.
Let’s hope it is a lesson everyone learns.