Given that rain totals reached as high as 5 inches in some parts of Robeson County, it wasn’t exactly a dry run, but our first take is that this county and Lumberton in particular were much better prepared to handle the wetness that Hurricane Dorian delivered than that of his evil uncle, Matthew, and evil aunt, Florence.

That’s what practice does.

Robeson County residents awakened on Friday to a glorious, sunshiny day, but the best part was that Dorian’s damage appeared to be minimal locally, and certainly not approaching the scope of Oct. 9, 2016, or Sept. 16, 2018.

We got a break, which was earned twice the hard way, as for the first time it appears that neighboring counties to the east and north got the worst of it — and in the northeastern corner of the state, things got downright scary. Dorian, which arrived off the North Carolina coast as a Category 2 hurricane that barely lacked the strength to claim Category 3 status, stayed just far enough away that the winds locally remained in the tropical-storm range, and they never appeared determined to do significant structural damage.

There were inconveniences, especially the loss of power for thousands of customers, the closing of the schools, some government offices and some private businesses, but what everyone has come to fear the most during these events, a Lumber River that escapes its banks, never really showed itself.

For a change, there was much that worked to our advantage.

The rainfall amount was modest, certainly when compared with Matthew and Florence, and it mostly fell to the east of us, not the west, where the water would have entered the Lumber River, causing problems downstream.

Additionally, the Lumber River was a few feet shy of flood stage, so it had space for the water. But remember, that was the case as well with Florence, which provided false comfort in advance of the event, but nothing of use during or afterward.

It would be impossible to quantify, but we are going to cling to the belief that the $1.5 million the city spent clearing canals and ditches that feed the Lumber River helped moved the water more quickly from our streets and neighborhoods and to the river, and then downstream.

The city also, with a nice helping hand from CSX Railroad, erected a makeshift berm at the gap under Interstate 95 through which floodwaters squeezed to drown West Lumberton and South Lumberton during Matthew and Florence. The 12-foot-tall berm was not tested by Dorian, but it will remain in place until the floodgates that are planned are installed, which is probably several years away. That is a nice helping of peace of mind.

It was probably the best that we could have hoped for in Robeson County. Residents here no longer have to be warned to prepare for a hurricane, as Matthew and Florence provide fresh memories of how catastrophic they can be, and that water will find its way to wherever it wants to go.

Bread and water now disappear a week before the storm arrives, not on its eve.

As far as hurricanes go, we will remember Dorian with some fondness — at least locally. Robeson County this morning does not need thoughts and prayers. Give those to the Bahamas.