Early in the day on April 29, I was aware it was going to rain, because I always check the forecast to make sure I don’t wear shoes that will get ruined. But as the afternoon of the 29th wore on, my Spidey sense triggered. The air felt weird. At about 4:15, I told the public information office staff to go home early. Several of them have lengthy commutes, and I didn’t want them driving in a deluge. The image of the Dumpster floating down Banksville Road like a floodwater buoy is still burned into my brain from a storm several years ago.

The sky was a weird shade on my way home. Just as I got inside my door, it started to rain. We just had a massive, super dead, 90+-year-old tree removed from our backyard and I was relieved, because as the wind kicked up, I knew it would have fallen if it hadn’t been removed.

In addition to being this magazine’s editor, I am also the municipality’s public information officer. The first call I received was from our ice rink staff to say they had no power and asking me to send a LeboALERT to cancel the middle school evening hockey program. At that point, I grabbed my emergency radio and started monitoring dispatches from the field: thousands of power outages, street closures and downed trees, including a dozen that landed on homes.

And just like that, our power was out. Our standby generator kicked on and we still had internet, so I could continue to work. Fellow municipal staff started texting each other as staff mobilization heightened. The fire department was at the scene of a possible fire in a residential high rise on Bower Hill Road. Emergency Management was activating our emergency operations center and all the senior managers started communicating with each other. I sent more LeboALERTs, posted on the website and on social media. Allegheny County’s 911 was overwhelmed and suffering power and cellphone network outages.

My alarm from earlier in the day was replaced with a sense of calm as the municipal team pressed into service. We drill for emergencies all the time, practicing our responses, and more experienced staff step in to guide the newer people. When the storm consequences stretched out over the following days, the duties changed but the goal remained the same: to help as many people as possible. Now that the storm is in the past, it is our responsibility to explain the many ways you can prepare to keep your family safe. See Rachel Windsor’s story.

I loved the story about the Crestvue Manor Drive residents, who celebrated replacement of their snapped utility pole with Prosecco. It was redolent of Vivian Greene’s quote: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” Make sure your shoes can handle it.