CMPD major describes western NC devastation, says area will need help ‘for a very long time’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has been among the countless agencies acorss North Carolina aiding in the recovery and relief efforts in western North Carolina.

On Friday, Maj. Jonathan Thomas described his team’s experience lending a hand in the area devastated by Hurricane Helene. He continually emphasized that it will take “long time” for things to be restored to any semblance of normalcy.

Thomas said working in the Black Mountain and Swannanoa areas of Buncombe County, that resources were scarce for the first few days they were present.

“There’s still no water, electricity came back after day four,” he said. “Everyone in the town of Black Mountain is using port-a-johns.”

Thomas said he was already working with the emergency management center for Mecklenburg when he was summoned to the mountains. But the flooding occurring locally was nothing compared to what was happening to the west.

“That area’s going to need help for a very long time,” Thomas said. “It’s a tourism area, so a lot of their financial resources are going to be depleted over the winter, everybody remember that area.”

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