- Parks sustained minor damage compared to other neighborhoods after Hurricane Helene.
- City Manager Mike Owens confirms most dangerous situations have been addressed, but larger debris remains.
- Watch the video to see how neighbors are dealing with the recovering parks.
BROADCAST SCRIPT
Some neighbors are staying away from the parks, worried about debris and downed trees left behind after Hurricane Helene.
I'm tracking how soon the parks will be back to normal and how neighbors are adjusting in the meantime.
City crews have been hard at work clearing debris and addressing hazards left behind in city parks. Parks Manager Mike Owens says that while the damage is manageable, it still requires attention.
"For most of the parks, we've got some tree damage, but it's not too bad. We've got some damage in Cherokee Lake, McIntyre Park, and Remington Park," Owens said.
He added that they'd already handled most of the dangerous debris and had picked up many fallen branches. Now, they're waiting for help from the Public Works Department to clear larger items like fallen trees.
Not all neighbors are staying away. Bill Wood, who walks his dogs daily at Cherokee Lake, doesn’t mind the debris. He enjoys seeing nature reclaim its space.
"It doesn't bother me at all," Wood said. "I kind of like the natural aspect of it. Some of the trees here, they cut them off to get them out of the way, but they leave the stumps to rot and go back to nature."
While Wood enjoys the parks, other neighbors are waiting for things to clear up. Iris Gomez and Kendall Croley, students at Southern Regional Technical College, love coming to the park after class to unwind but have avoided it since the storm.
"We've been seeing a lot of debris, and the trees are a little damaged from the storm. So we've been trying to avoid going," Gomez said.
However, the students noted that city crews are working quickly to get the parks back in shape. "I've been seeing them out, and they’ve been trying to get everything cleaned up pretty quickly," Gomez added.
Owens estimates it will take 7 to 10 days for the city to fully clear the debris and downed trees from the parks.
Meanwhile, the city has been receiving unexpected calls from people outside the area looking to use Thomasville's golf courses, as many others are still shut down after the storm.
