More than 100 felled trees. Buried footpaths. Damaged street furniture. That is the tally the powerful storm left in Skopje's City Park a few days ago.

The first section of the park has now been cleared. Crews from the City of Skopje's public companies removed the fallen trees, planted new saplings and repaired the damaged equipment. The area is open to visitors again. In the second section the work continues - old and damaged trees are being removed, new ones planted.

"We cannot prevent natural disasters, but we can show that through unity, organisation and dedicated work we will overcome the consequences quickly and responsibly," said Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski, thanking all the services that worked round the clock.

The fast response is real - and it is not the whole story

This has to be said plainly: the clean-up genuinely was fast, and the crews on the ground did their job. That is no small thing in a city where plenty of work sits unfinished for years.

But the line that we cannot prevent natural disasters is only half true. We cannot prevent wind. We can influence how many trees that wind brings down.

A hundred trees in one park in one night is not only a measure of the storm's force - it is also a measure of the condition of the trees themselves. Dendrological assessment, regular pruning, timely removal of diseased and dead trunks - that is routine maintenance done before the storm, not after it. When it is absent for years, every stronger storm collects the whole bill at once.

New saplings are now going in where the old trees stood. Good. The question for next year is whether anyone will inspect the trees still standing - or whether we wait for the next strong wind to do the selecting instead of the experts.