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Being omnipotent, nothing was beyond him, so he could presumably have surgically removed the corrupt (and the corruptor) and left the Faithful. The wholescale destruction of an island and all its inhabitants does seem rather a blunt weapon, although suitable perhaps for the fleet.
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Then again, that would have left the island intact, as both the center of the empire, and, most likely, a place of corruption itself, given all the attrocities that were commited there and all the power Sauron spent in corrupting. Those on Middle Earth oppressing people in the name of Numenor would have had little if any motive to stop continuing to do so, esspecially if the main core of the faithfuls remains on the island. They would have interpreted this act as a larger scale set of ligthnings. They have been impervious to that sort of warnings. Look! Numenor still stands! Nothing can stop us! Let's get it on!!
I believe a better solution is in order.
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I take it from your statement "he could presumably have surgically removed the corrupt (and the corruptor) and left the Faithful" that in your variant there would be the same amount of victims as in the tale. Am I correct?