THE EDITOR, Sir:

It occurs to me that much of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy could easily have been avoided if residents had acted more sensibly in the days leading up to the hurricane's arrival. So many trees have fallen on houses, on fences and across roads. Many of these trees had not been trimmed in several months, and so posed an obvious risk.

Too often, we think of hurricane preparation solely in terms of stocking up on bully beef and bottled water. If these trees were trimmed in anticipation of the heavy winds, the clean-up would have been much easier.

FRUSTRATED