A little over three months ago, a storm dumped several inches of water on southwestern Butler County.

Zelienople, perhaps, felt the brunt of that storm as rock dams were blasted away, sending water from a stream through Community Park and eventually to Main Street, leaving a path of destruction along the way.

In the wake of that bout with flooding — the third such major incident in about a year — frustrated residents packed borough council meetings, asking what would be done to stop them from experiencing another watery nightmare.

Borough officials promised they would take the feedback given, gather their own data and come up with a plan for addressing ongoing flooding.

Likely, that promise rang hollow for some who trudged back to their flooded homes to assess the damage.

Last month, borough officials unveiled an updated evaluation report documenting stream obstructions. The report combines resident feedback with data gathered by an intern over the past few months.

That data includes photos of obstructions both man-made and natural as well as aerial map views, GPS coordinates and a description of the issue.

The information was compiled into the final report, which recently was given to borough council. From that, a new list of stormwater management projects was reprioritized from an existing list. Although not much was added, the order and immediacy ultimately was.

In total, 19 projects with a roughly $2 million price tag were outlined. They will be done over several years as money is available, starting with plans to address water running from Interstate 79 near Community Park.

More immediately, the borough is paying to remove 10 nuisance trees that are blocking water flow along a stream. Although the stream is not borough property, and permission must be sought to gain access for removal, officials acknowledged they made a promise to do whatever they could to address the issues causing flooding.

Government can inherently move slowly. The amount of time and, more notably, money that goes into even small projects can take months or even years.

That’s why what has happened in Zelienople is so impressive.

In a matter of months, officials not only gathered updated data for their study, but they also figured out ways they could take corrective action almost immediately.

In doing so, they stuck to a promise they made to residents.

Officials should be commended for their urgency, and we hope residents affected by flooding take solace in knowing their government is working for them.