A retired Georgia State Patrol (GSP) pilot spent much of this week flying supplies and food to people hit hardest by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.
Kevin Thompson came onto AccessWDUN’s Mornings on Maine Street to speak about what he saw and what he did in North Carolina this week.
“That’s all we did was just flew missions of taking and delivering supplies and food to some of the most devastated places that I’ve ever seen,” Thompson said.
Thompson said he went to Statesville, North Carolina after his company he works for now was in contact with people there.
They went up on Monday to Statesville and their helicopters were loaded up with supplies and food “within minutes.”
They then flew to Marshall, North Carolina to unload the supplies before going back to Hickory, North Carolina where most of the operations took place.
Thompson said he couldn't believe the amount of helicopters landing, and on Tuesday they had a runway closed for Operation Airdrop to help bring supplies to those affected by Hurricane Helene.
Thompson was with the GSP for the Albany floods of 1994, and said the scenes in North Carolina topped that.
“I saw houses yesterday that were laying in the middle of some of the river banks that were just destroyed,” Thompson said.
He said it would take months to years for some of the communities to get built back.
“My heart goes out to these people that are gonna be displaced for months if not years,” Thompson said.
Thompson added that they were still recovering bodies on Thursday.
For the people still there, he said they were happy to see the help coming. Thompson likened it to “candy at Christmas” for the people in the central part of the state.
“It made me feel real good that I was using my talents and things that I've experienced over the years to be able to get into these places and help these folks,” Thompson said.
