We’ve taken to calling this the storm of the century, because it is. For this region, it is the biggest storm in the lifetimes of anyone living today.

Following the Blizzard of 1978, roads, bridges and highways were impassable for days. Four days after it passed, highways were still shut down, littered with snow drifts and abandoned cars.

In contrast, even though this storm was bigger than ’78, we had most of our major roadways clear down to the pavement hours after the storm left us. By Tuesday afternoon, most side roads, neighborhoods, senior centers and shopping plazas were all dug out, open and accessible.

For those who might complain about the performance of our public works crews, a dose of perspective may help. Every community in this region was overwhelmed by this storm. Bristol and Warren and Barrington and East Providence and Portsmouth and Middletown are all struggling just to get back to 50 percent of normalcy. They all have unplowed side roads, buried sidewalks, snow-obstructed intersections and untouched parking lots. All of them.

Their employees have been working ungodly hours, pulling 24-hour shifts, sleeping briefly, and then climbing back behind the wheel to get after it once again. Their equipment is pushed to the breaking point, the snow piles so deep, so heavy, that only the biggest trucks can make an impact. Everywhere, both public and private trucks have been breaking down, insufficient to meet the heft and power of this storm.

This is not the time for grumbles or complaints directed at anyone driving an orange truck or drawing a public works paycheck. They, along with police officers, firefighters, and legions of volunteers have been doing heroic work to get us back to the point we are today.

Many challenges remain. Trash and recycling service, clogged storm drains, buried fire hydrants, safe bus stops … all remain enormous challenges for our municipal crews, and this is just the beginning of the cleanup. Things will remain off-kilter, not quite normal, for weeks.

Be thankful for the work these crews have done, and the work they will continue to do until the job is done. Mother Nature overwhelmed all systems, and there is nothing humans could do to stop it. Just know they are doing the best they possibly can to return your world to normalcy.