There’s little one can do when Mother Nature sets her sights on destruction — but being prepared in advance certainly helps.

This past summer was devastating for many Butler County residents whose properties — and in the case of local farmers, livelihoods — were harmed by the torrential downpours that led to severe flooding in parts of the county.

A number of communities across the county were hit especially hard — including Zelienople, Harmony, Evans City, the area near Sullivan’s Run in Butler and Connoquenessing, Jackson, Forward and Lancaster townships — during summer rainstorms.

This coming weekend — and the first weekend of November — will provide an opportunity for residents to learn how to be better prepared for flooding.

Flood-disaster workshops will run from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday and Nov. 2 at the Butler City Fire Station, 110 N. Washington St.

The workshops will be broken down into three segments that will include participation by the city’s emergency management coordinator, a county emergency services representative, a city engineer, county shelter management team Pennsylvania Volunteers Inc. and a flood insurance representative.

Discussions will be held on why flooding occurred in the region, what the city is doing about it, how residents can get advanced warning and what flood insurance covers.

Other topics will include flood safety inside the home, what to bring if moving to a shelter during a flood, how to file a claim for flood damage and how to know when it’s safe to return home after a flood.

Last month on this page, we praised Zelienople borough officials after they quickly put together an updated evaluation report on stream obstructions in the wake of flooding in that community. As a result, a list of stormwater management projects was reprioritized and plans were quickly put into place to remove trees that could cause a nuisance during downpours.

But in that editorial, we also pointed out that government often moves slowly, and that even smaller projects can take months or years.

So, while efforts to alleviate flooding are being proposed in communities across the county, those fixes might not be in place before the next round of flooding occurs.

In the meantime, we encourage county residents who live in flood-prone zones to check out one of the upcoming flood-disaster workshops. More information is available by emailing rich@pavolunteers.org or calling 724-822-7928.