To work or not to work, that is the question.
It's certainly outside the scope of any 'electrical' code. Period.
Of course, one could simply point to the big red sticker on the lift that says 'don't use in strong winds.'
It is also possible that the storm arose quicker than they could respond; there's more to be done than simply dropping the lift. You can't really just stop working in the middle of the pour- that concrete is going to set whether it's in the bucket or inside the forms. Then there's the matter of protecting the pour from the falling rain.
My point is that it is far easier to be critical than correct. It is arrogant to assume that you, sitting miles and days away, reading a news report, are better qualified to judge than the folks who were on site at the time. Those concrete crews are professionals, men who spent nearly a decade mastering their trade. It's high time that they were treated with at least the same respect as any slide-rule samurai with an engineering degree. Let's grant them some intelligence.