Greeley residents rise to challenge, help each other out during storms

<a href='http://greeleytribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=509128'>Click here to see readers' photos of the wind damage.</a><p>

Sometimes, Mother Nature's wrath helps define a community best. In December 2006, residents were bowled under by a pair of massive blizzards just before Christmas. The resulting snow practically shut down the city for days. We saw neighbors helping neighbors and acts of kindness on many levels to get through the worst.

That tenor didn't change at the beginning of the month, when 60-mph wind gusts whipped through northern Colorado, ripping trees from their roots, tearing shingles from roofs and fences from their posts.

Many longtime residents watched helplessly as trees planted 50 years ago fall in their front yards; others watched the trees slam into homes, and in one instance, a car. Residents filed claims of more than $400,000, and they flooded the hardware and home improvement stores in the next days to repair the damage.

That May 2 storm saw its own brand of kindness emerge in Greeley. The city's emergency services were on top of the storm, responding to 35 calls within three and a half hours. City trucks were on the streets quickly clearing debris. Union Colony Fire Protection District employees were out with chain saws, helping cut up felled trees.

Knowing residents with fallen trees would be in a pinch just to remove the newfound mess in their yards, Greeley officials went a step further than traditional civic duty. They allowed residents to take their "green" waste to the city's Green Cycle Center for the next week for free. We know $7 a load is change to many, but given the amount of debris residents had to clear, that could amount to a nice chunk out of the budget, especially when there was so much damage to repair.

City officials should be commended, not only for their quick response to residents in need, but for some forward thinking to help residents clean up Mother Nature's mess.