Editorial: Rising to the challenge

The Fourth of July in Riverhead started with the banging of drums and ended with a freak storm that tested the resolve of the town’s local heroes.

The day began the way Independence Day should. Main Street filled with families dressed in red, white and blue. Veterans marched. Fire departments rolled through town. Neighbors claimed spots along the curb, celebrating not only America’s 250th birthday but another year of community tradition.

By nightfall, people who had gathered for the much-anticipated fireworks show at South Jamesport Beach were running for cover as lightning cracked across the sky and winds approaching 84 mph tore through town.

The festive atmosphere came to a jarring end. The real work began.

Highway crews headed into the darkness armed with chainsaws instead of sparklers. Firefighters answered emergency calls instead of posing for parade photos. Police cruisers flashed their sirens to guide motorists through torrential rain and blocked dangerous roads instead of entertaining kids.

All the first responders worked through a holiday most people had planned to spend with family.

By sunrise, Riverhead looked different under the threatening skies.

Trees blocked roads. Power lines dangled across intersections. Cars sat crushed beneath fallen limbs. Neighborhoods that had spent the afternoon celebrating were suddenly figuring out how to navigate streets that looked as though a tornado had passed through.

Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski was not exaggerating when he described it that way on Monday, as more torrential rain fell to flood roads and hamper the cleanup effort.

The damage was significant enough to force officials to call off the popular Alive on 25 summer block party scheduled for Thursday.

Yet what stood out was the response.

Within hours, Mr. Zaleski’s seasoned crew began making roads passable. Firefighters responded to call after call as residents from Laurel to Wading River lost power.

That is the less glamorous side of a holiday weekend, but perhaps the more meaningful one.

Patriotism is not measured only by parades, flags, anthems or fireworks. It is also found in public servants who leave their own family celebrations behind to help strangers, neighbors who check on one another and crews who keep working long after everyone else has gone home.

Riverhead experienced both versions of the Fourth this year.

The first celebrated the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, signed nearly 250 years ago.

The second made self-evident how those ideals are still lived.